Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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105. To ask the Minister for Health the plans in place for a youth mental health app; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10055/25]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The Government and I remain committed to the development of all aspects of mental health services nationally, including those for children and young people.

At the request of the Department of Health, the Navigator app, a dynamic web-based signposting tool for young people aged 16-34 years, has been commissioned by Spunout and the HSE to support the mental health of young people. The aim of the project, which has been developed thanks to funding that I secured, is to facilitate help-seeking behaviour and enhance access to support. Through this resource, young people will be encouraged to recognise mental health difficulties and will be signposted to relevant supports. The app aims to provide young people, parents, caregivers, and those working with young people, with reliable up to date information on where to access supports and services at both a local and national level, for a variety of mental health issues.

I understand that throughout the development process, the project team have engaged regularly with Mental Health Reform on their ‘digital front door / no wrong door’ project to ensure alignment and integration with developments in the community and voluntary sector and to avoid any risk of duplication. The Navigator app is due to be launched in Q2 2025.

More broadly, digital mental health is encompassed in Ireland’s first National Mental Health Research Strategy, which was published in December 2024. The Strategy is a comprehensive, whole-of-government framework to guide and advance mental health research in Ireland, including research in the area of digital supports. In addition, HSE Mental Health established a Digital Mental Health Specialist Group in 2022, to support the implementation of Recommendations 2 and 31 of Sharing the Vision. The development of a national digital mental health strategy was identified as a key action in the delivery of Recommendation 31, as part of the first Sharing the Vision Implementation Plan. To this end, the National Digital Mental Health Strategy is currently being finalised and will be launched in the coming months.

Finally, from an international perspective, the Department of Health are currently working with WHO counterparts to develop the first Digital Mental Health Roadmap, which will draw on Ireland’s experience in developing mental health digital supports and provide exemplars of best practice alongside other European examples. It is expected that the Roadmap will be finalised and published by year end.