Mark Ward TD has accused the Government of a lack of urgency is providing mental health supports. This comes after a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health when it was announced that the additional €10 million announced for mental health provision in February 2021 still has not been spent.
Speaking after the committee Teachta Ward said: “Last year I accused the Government of making announcements on additional funding for mental health supports as window dressing and used to generate cheap headlines. “It gives me no pleasure to hear that I was right. In fact, It didn’t just generate cheap headlines it generated free headlines as the €10 million announced in additional spending for Mental Health in February 2021 remains unspent. “The latest news we have is that their may be a plan in quarter 4 of this year for this funding.
“This is not good enough. There is a complete lack of urgency by this Government to provide mental health services people need right now. “People who need mental health supports have a simple ask and that is that they can access the care they need , when they need it and where they need it. “Our frontline services have a simple ask and that is that they are resourced to provide the supports that people need. “Covid has put added pressure on our mental health services so any delay in providing additional funding is unacceptable. “The Minister also needs to guarantee that this money is ringfenced and does not get lost in the upcoming budget and presented as addition spending when it is clearly not.
