Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 December 2025
1133. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Health whether she will introduce multi-annual funding agreements for community mental health organisations; the estimated budget required; and her Department's rationale for continuing annualised funding cycles. [72456/25]
View answerThe total allocation for mental health services in 2026 is almost €1.6 billion, which is the sixth year in a row in which the mental health budget has been increased.
This increase in funding for mental health services represents a significant investment which will enable continued policy implementation and service improvement in line with our national mental health policy, Sharing the Vision, and our national suicide and self-harm reduction strategy Connecting for Life, across a broad continuum from mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention, through to specialist mental health services. This year’s budget provided the opportunity to focus on investing in crisis support and suicide prevention; youth mental health and CAMHS, and expanding the National Clinical Programmes.
As occurs each year following the Budget, it will be the responsibility of the HSE in relation to specific service initiatives to operationalise the rollout of HSE Service Plan 2026, including that for Mental Health.
With regard to funding for community based mental health organisations, all funding requests from such organisations for service initiatives are progressed in line with the annual Budgetary Estimate process which is required for State Expenditure purposes.
I acknowledge that there are potential benefits of introducing multi-annual funding to improve planning over a multi-annual horizon on a more structured and sustainable timeframe than a single year. However, there currently exist a range of legislative barriers to the introduction of multi-annual funding on the basis that the Oireachtas only votes current expenditure to individual Government departments for a single year at a time. This in turn translates into the legislative provisions under the Health Act 2004 (as amended) where the Department confirms the funding determination to the HSE each year, post Budget, to inform the development of the HSE National Service Plan. This funding allocation and service planning process only occurs on a planning horizon of a single year at a time.
Community mental health organisations are key partners in the delivery of our national mental health policy, Sharing the Vision, and our national suicide and self-harm reduction strategy Connecting for Life which set out the strategic priorities for mental health and suicide reduction. These policies, and the forthcoming successor suicide and self-harm reduction strategy, will guide funding allocations for both the HSE and key partner organisations into the future.
In addition, the HSE is also developing a longer term 10-year Capital plan for mental health. The new mental health 10-year Capital Development Programme will focus on upgrading existing facilities, replacing inappropriate community facilities and the continued expansion of service over this 10-year period.
