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Seanad
‹ Order of Business

Mental health funding allocation

Summary

Senator Freeman argued the €35 million mental health allocation lacked specificity and was being used as a public pacifier. She said funding should be directed to concrete mental health services.

I want to speak about the €35 million allocated for mental health services. The announcement was not specific in terms of where the money would be allocated. My response is that this is typical. It is a pacifier for the public in that the sum €35 million sounds great, but the amount has not increased at a time when the funding for every other Department has. Every Government gives the same amount of money every year, but it is not allocated to any specific area. For example, the numbers of gardai, nurses and teachers will increase, but nothing has been allocated specifically for mental health services. Will the Leader ask the Department of Finance why there is such vagueness about this matter. Will the Government do what it did last year and remove a chunk of money and allocate it where it wants? I understand the Health Service Executive will come up with a plan in the coming weeks, but the budgetary provision will have been forgotten by then. Is that deliberate to allow for chunks of money to be removed from the mental health budget in the hope no one will notice? No one in the Government will care. Will the Leader invite representatives of the Department of Finance to come the House to allow us to get clear answers on the way the money is being allocated?

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