Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 February 2021
263. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Health if the minutes of meetings of the two independent monitoring groups for A Vision for Change which were held between 2006 and 2012 were published; if he will provide a copy of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7538/21]
View answerIn January 2006, the Government adopted the Report of the Expert Group on Mental Health Policy A Vision for Change as the basis for the future development of mental health services in Ireland.
In March 2006, the then Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Mr Tim O’Malley, T.D., with special responsibility for mental health services, in line with the recommendation in A Vision for Change, established the First Independent Monitoring Group for a three-year period to monitor progress on the implementation of the report's recommendations.
The term of the first Independent Monitoring Group ceased in April 2009 and in June 2009 the then Minister for Equality, Disability and Mental Health, Mr John Moloney, T.D. appointed the Second Independent Monitoring Group for a further three-year period. The Second Independent Monitoring Group delivered its final report in 2011 and subsequently Ms. Kathleen Lynch T.D., the then Minister for Disability, Equality, Mental Health and Older People dissolved the group as the three-year term had come to an end.
The Terms of Reference for the Independent Monitoring Group stated that the role of the Group was:
- To monitor and assess progress on the implementation of all the recommendations in ‘A Vision for Change’
- To make recommendations in relation to the manner in which the recommendations are implemented
- To report to the Minister annually on progress made towards implementing the recommendations of the Report and to publish the report.
As the Terms of Reference of the Independent Monitoring Group made no provision for the publication of the Minutes of the Group, consequently these were not made publicly available.
The six annual reports from 2007 to 2011 of the Independent Monitoring Group can be found at the below link, included for the Deputy's convenience.
https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/cgi/search/archive/typex/?screen=Search&dataset=archive&_action_search=Search&titlex_merge=ALL&titlex=A+vision+for+change&subjectx_merge=ALL&subjectx=&q_merge=ALL&q=&satisfyall=ALL&order=-date%2Fbrowse_by%2Ftitle
