Mental health supports - Explain plan to axe funding

ONE of the things we have done well is to change attitudes towards mental illness. Not so long ago, those who suffered a bout of mental illness were condemned to a twilight life where they were never free of the perception that they were weak and maybe unreliable.

It was an unjustified badge sometimes carried long after recovery. One of the things that we have not done well is to finance mental health services properly. Despite assurance after assurance it is a Cinderella service, one condemned to last place in the queue for funding.

The perception is that there are no votes in mental health and that it can be ignored without real political consequences.

Today we publish an interview with junior health minister Kathleen Lynch that shows how very deeply that cynicism runs in official Ireland.

Ms Lynch had responsibility for mental health services and relates how this year’s budget had been finalised without any mental health funding. Ms Lynch said that during the last round of negotiations, “the €35m was removed ... entirely”.

She blames ministers Michael Noonan, Brendan Howlin, and Leo Varadkar for that incomprehensible decision, one that will stir memories of how poorly women suffering from Hepatitis C were treated by Mr Noonan when he was health minister.

This is a chilling allegation and the decision was only reversed when Ms Lynch threatened to resign. The ministers so accused must explain their coldhearted decision.