Why must everyone with mental health and disabilities fight for everything tooth and nail? The programme for Government says Ireland should aim to become an international leader in support and care for people with mental health challenges. I agree. In 2019, 421 people died by suicide. Some 10% of the population suffers with some sort of mental health problem. At the end of June, there were 350 children in Meath and Westmeath waiting on appointments to psychology departments, with over 8,000 children awaiting appointments nationally. The services provided for groups caring for these children need more investment. People are three times more likely to die by suicide than road accidents. Of the last budget. the CEO of Mental Health Reform said it was very concerning that the Government had failed to deliver extra services to address the mental health crisis in this country. As the Government prepares the budget, will it put the resources into mental health with the urgency it needs?

I was not in government for the last budget. We were in Opposition and facilitated the budget under a confidence and supply agreement. Consistently under that agreement, we increased resources for mental health.

Notwithstanding that increase in resources, mental health services did not seem to be in a position to convert those resources into recruiting the necessary personnel, both in the child and adolescent centres and more widely across psychiatry. There have been ongoing personnel and staffing issues related to mental health which we intend to tackle under the programme for Government. We also seek to change the narrative about recruitment of qualified personnel to our mental health services and to give stronger supports to non-governmental organisations that are involved in mental health which provide a significant service.