The provision of mental health services is, in the main, a matter for the Health Service Executive. However, there has been significant progress in policy implementation and annual increases in the mental health budget, enhancing all aspects of our mental health services and supports. This remains a key priority for the Government, building on the significant improvements in the delivery of our mental health services over the past number of years. Service improvement and development will continue throughout this year and into the future.
The Government’s clear commitment to enhancing mental health services, is shown by significant mental health funding increases in recent years. I am pleased to have secured an unprecedented level of funding, and the total allocation for mental health services for 2026 is almost €1.6bn, a record funding level. Mental health funding has increased by over 50% since I took office in 2020.
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 (StV). StV is Ireland’s 10-year ambitious, multifaceted national mental health policy to enhance the provision of mental health services. The policy recognises the need for a whole-of-population, whole-of-government approach to the delivery of mental health services. It builds on the achievements of A Vision for Change, with a focus on a wider, cross-sectoral service provision appropriate to whole population needs, across a broad continuum from mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention, through to specialist mental health services.
In line with Sláintecare, the policy aims to provide “the right care in the right place at the right time”. Sharing the Vision aims to enhance the provision of mental health services and supports across a broad continuum, from mental health promotion, prevention, and early intervention to acute and specialist mental health service delivery, during the period 2020-2030.
The latest published Implementation Status Report (May 2025) provides an overview of progress against the StV Implementation Plan 2025-2027 across the entire policy. Prepared by the joint NIMC Steering Committee and HIG secretariats, it is the fourteenth status report.
Connecting for Life (CfL) is Ireland’s national suicide prevention strategy. The Strategy focuses on the primary and secondary prevention of suicidal behaviour and addresses a broad range of risk and protective factors. CfL has been running for 9 years, and an evaluation of its implementation as informed a successor strategy, which is due to be published in the coming weeks.
The Connecting for Life implementation structures remain in place until the successor strategy is complete. Examples of continuing work in this area includes a toolkit/framework to guide public sector agencies on effective measures that can prevent deaths by suicide in public places.
In addition, the Government remains committed to developing all aspects of mental health services nationally, including those for children and young people. Approximately €190 million is provided to the specialist CAMHS annually. Over €127 million was provided to community-based mental health organisations last year, with a significant proportion of this dedicated to supporting children and young people.
Funding allocated to mental health services in recent years has allowed for the continued investment in the mental health national clinical programmes and models of care, which has led to significant service improvements, including the aim to develop high-quality, person-centred, integrated care through a clinician-led, evidence-based approach to service reform, including the on-going expansion of specialist mental health teams for eating disorders, ADHD in adults, and Early Intervention in Psychosis.
With regard to management of medicine, the arrangements for ordering, prescribing, storing and administration of medication in approved inpatient mental health centres – all of which are the responsibility of either the prescribing clinician or the registered proprietor of each approved centre - are reviewed on every annual inspection of each approved mental health centre by the Inspector of Mental Health Services and his team (Regulation 23). The findings of these assessments are published in the Inspector’s reports and in the Mental Health Commission’s annual reports.
The development of a new Mental Health Bill is a longstanding priority for myself and the Department of Health and features in the current Programme for Government.
The Mental Health Bill 2024 will replace the existing 2001 Act, introducing a more modern, person-centred approach to mental health legislation and put in place a more robust framework in which mental health services will be delivered and regulated. The Bill passed the Dáil in July 2025 and is due at Report Stage in the Seanad next month.
The Bill is the result of years of research, consultation and drafting. The final Bill has been informed by the lived experience of people interacting with and working under the Mental Health Act. This includes the loved ones and family members of people accessing mental health services. There are a large variety of opinions regarding the Mental Health Bill and what it should and should not include. The fact that a certain viewpoint is not reflected in the published Bill does not mean that it has not been considered. Officials in my Department considered all correspondence relating to the Bill during the course of drafting and the final Bill reflects a balancing of many of views expressed in these correspondences.
As you may be aware, the Mental Health Bill will support the involvement of family members and loved ones, with the consent of the individual concerned, by explicitly stating that people accessing inpatient services may nominate a family member or other person with whom they can consult with throughout their treatment and who they can nominate to receive certain information about their care and treatment.
However, there are no plans to amend the Mental Health Bill to permit the mandatory sharing of information about an individual’s mental health treatment. People accessing mental health treatment deserve equal treatment in relation to their privacy rights to any other form of healthcare. The Bill already supports the inclusion of family members in a person’s mental health care and treatment.
Additionally, there are existing mechanisms in place for clinicians to breach confidentiality in relation to any person under their care, when necessary. For example, there are circumstances where it may be necessary to disclose information about a person where they are at serious risk of harm to themselves or others and this includes, where a child or elderly person is at risk of violence or abuse. Medical Council guidelines specifically allow for this to happen, and that course of action has always been available to doctors. Of course, prediction of risk is not always easy.
I am very supportive of the involvement of family members in an individual’s mental health treatment, where the individual consents. Confidentiality is central to building a trusting relationship between a clinician and a person under his or her care. A person must be assured that, outside of limited circumstances, information he or she shares with his or her clinician is treated confidentially. It is at the discretion of the individual as to what and how much information they allow a doctor or service to disclose to their family members. This applies equally across all areas of medicine, not just mental health.
The State is obligated to ensure that the rights of people with severe mental health difficulties are protected and that they are given the opportunity to be active participants in their own care and treatment. This central concept is embodied in the Mental Health Bill 2024.
The Parent-infant psychotherapy (PiP) model of care mentioned in your question is not reflected in the provisions of the Mental Health Bill. However, based on the information provided in your correspondence, nothing in the Mental Health Bill would seem to preclude the adoption of such a model when the Bill becomes law. It may be most appropriate for the HSE to consider the viability of this model as part of its delivery of perinatal mental health services, and I will ask that this be shared with the National Clinical Lead for the Programme.
