Gino Kenny
Question:614. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Health the budget for mental health services for 2021 and the value of this as a percentage of the total health budget. [44934/21]
View answerTuesday, 21 September 2021
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Written answers
The development of all aspects of mental health services remains a priority for Government. This is reflected in the current Programme for Government, the new policy, Sharing the Vision - A Mental Health Policy for Everyone, and the significant additional funding given to HSE Mental Health services in Budget 2021.
In excess of €1.1 billion is allocated for mental health in the 2021 HSE National Service Plan, a record amount.
This represents 5.4% of the overall provision of €20,623 million for the HSE. However this is not an accurate reflection of full mental health spend. For context, the figure does not include funding for other parts of the health service that provide mental health services and supports, such as psychotropic medicines funded by the Primary Care Reimbursement Service, liaison mental health services in acute hospitals, some dual diagnosis (addiction and mental health) services and mental health and well-being promotion.
It also does not include spending by other departments on services that incorporate psychological or mental health supports, such as the Prison and Probation Services, Defence Forces, Department of Foreign Affairs supporting the Irish diaspora or the Department of Education.
Finally, 2021 saw significant extra funding to health services for infection control measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 which has the effect of reducing the figure as a percentage of the overall health allocation.