Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 April 2026
252. Deputy Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh asked the Minister for Health her plans to extend support for new mothers for the first year after childbirth, especially in terms of community-based mental health and physical recovery care; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29216/26]
View answerGovernment investment, guided by the National Maternity Strategy, has led to a significant expansion and improvement in perinatal health care for women during pregnancy and in the year following birth and beyond.
The ambition of government is to provide timely and responsive access to safe, high quality mental health services, delivering the right care in the right place at the right time. This means effective, compassionate and responsive services to meet the mental health needs of pregnant women and mothers experiencing mental health issues.
There has been significant service improvements in perinatal health care, and the current Strategy delivered significant improvements across our maternity services, including perinatal mental health supports, and supports during the postnatal period.
Since 2016, €28 million in new development funding has been invested through the National Maternity Strategy. This has transformed our maternity services for women and babies.
Investment has funded over 567 additional Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) health professionals, including 44 consultants and 382 additional nurses and midwives.
Rollout of Postnatal Hubs has commenced, and a review of the Maternity and the Infant Care Scheme that is currently underway. Government is developing a successor to the National Maternity Strategy, supported by an extensive review and evaluation of the implementation of the current Strategy.
Within mental health services, investment has facilitated the full implementation of the specialist perinatal mental health network (SPMHS). The SPMHS is now available in all 19 maternity hospitals nationwide, providing support to pregnant women and women with a baby up to one year old, with an existing or new mental health problem. Funding of €5 million annually has established 6 consultant led multidisciplinary teams across major maternity hospitals (Coombe, NMH, Rotunda, Galway, Cork, Limerick), and 13 spoke sites staffed by perinatal mental health midwife posts. There are now over 75 funded posts in SPMHS nationally.
Under Budget 2026, I secured an additional €640,000 to recruit two additional consultant psychiatrists for the Programme’s busiest sites, the Rotunda and Holles Street, to meet growing demand for the service.
The HSE are progressing a review of the Model of Care for SPMHS, with a Steering Group due to be established shortly and a refreshed model published later this year. The key objective of this refresh is the provision of equivalent service to the major hospital sites as for the other 13 spoke sites, and this will be the focus of this second phase of the Model of Care.
