HSE pays €4.4m every year for mental health treatments in UK
The HSE is paying €4.4 million a year for mental health treatments in the UK.
The reports that 13 patients have been transferred to the UK for specialist psychiatric treatment.
The patients were moved abroad for periods of between two months and almost 14 years.
Fianna Fail's spokesperson on Mental Health Colm Keaveney said these cases highlight the lack of investment in specialist care available in Ireland.
"We've seen a breach in the Programme for Government - a commitment to ring-fence specialist recruitment and expenditure in community mental health teams," he said.
"It's resulted in a staffing crisis on the ground … the HSE are left with no option but to export many of our complex, acute mental health needs."
