Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 July 2025
666. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Health the overall percentage of the health budget currently allocated to mental health; and the increase in funding (as a percentage of GDP or GNI) that would result from a €500 million additional allocation.; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35464/25]
View answer738. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Health the way in which Ireland’s current per capita spending on mental health compares with EU and OECD averages; and the estimated additional cost to bring spending to the EU average. [35514/25]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 666 and 738 together.
The total allocation for mental health services in 2025 is just under €1.5 billion, which is €143.5 million more than 2024 and the fifth year in a row that the mental health budget has been increased. Since 2020, funding for mental health has increased by nearly 44%.
The increase in funding for mental health services, under Budget 2025, represents a significant investment which will enable continued policy implementation and service improvement in line with our national mental health policy, Sharing the Vision. This year’s budget allocation builds on the provision of mental health supports across a broad continuum from mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention, to acute and specialist mental health service delivery, and enabling us to continue to deliver our vital services to as many people as possible, as we move into 2025.
As part of the funding allocated to mental health services, new development funding has been secured to advance initiatives on youth mental health, and around priority groups identified within our national suicide reduction strategy Connecting for Life. It will be focused on increased CAMHS staffing, a new CAMHS hub, enhancing the 'Single Point of Access' central referral mechanism for children's community services including CAMHS, opening 18 more beds in the National Forensic Mental Health Services in Portrane, increasing access to Counselling in Primary Care (CiPC), as well as the expansion of Suicide Bereavement Liaison Services and the Traveller Counselling Service.
The table below outlines the budget allocation for HSE Mental Health Services since 2020:
|
NSP Allocation |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
|
€m |
€m |
€m |
€m |
€m |
€m |
€m |
|
|
Mental Health |
987 |
1,031 |
1,114 |
1,159 |
1,227 |
1,338 |
1,458 |
The OECD does not provide an average spend per capita on mental health. The document New Benchmark for Mental Health Systems: tackling the social and economic costs of mental ill-health provides some estimates of mental health expenditure relative to total health expenditure. This document notes the methodological challenges that exist in collecting and comparing mental health spending across countries. One significant issue when trying to make comparisons is the scope of services that are included. Dementia services in Ireland, for example, do not fall under the mental health budget, while they do in other countries. In addition some countries include only government expenditure, while others include all expenditure in their estimates. These challenges make it exceptionally difficult to meaningfully compare Irish spending on mental health with that in other OECD countries.
Notwithstanding these methodological challenges, the OECD note a range of levels in mental health spending, from 4% to 15% of health spending, with only five countries spending more than 10% of their budget on mental health.
In response to the Deputy's question regarding the percentage of the overall health budget currently allocated to mental health in Ireland, Budget 2025 brought the mental health allocation to 6.17% of the total allocated health budget.
Currently, focusing solely on funding allocated to mental health under the health budget, mental health expenditure as a proportion of GDP is 0.27% and as a proportion of GNI is 0.45%. In response to the Deputy's question, if the mental health budget received an additional allocation of €500 million, then mental health expenditure would increase to 0.36% of GDP and 0.6% of GNI.
However, it should be noted that this is an underestimate of overall Government expenditure on mental health. This is because funding for mental health supports is dispersed across many areas of Government, and there is no single funding figure to reflect this. For example, the figure of just under €1.5 billion does not include funding for other parts of the health service that provide mental health supports, such as Primary Care, Disability services, liaison mental health in acute hospitals, some dual diagnosis (addiction and mental health) services, and mental health and well-being promotion.
It also does not include either spending by other Departments on services that incorporate psychological or mental health supports, such as Tusla, the Department of Education, the Prison and Probation Services, Youth Justice, or Social Protection.
