It has emerged that €12m earmarked for the mental health budget has been transferred to other health spending.

In 2011 the then Fine Gael - Labour government committed to ring fencing €35m each year for mental health services.

Director of Mental Health Reform Shari McDaid has said that the budget for mental health was being asked "to shore up" other areas of the health service.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Ms McDaid said "I'd like to get that confidence and reassurance from the Minister from Health that it will be restored, this year, not just next year, so that the mental health service can cope with the thousands of people who need urgent mental health treatment."

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has said the budget for mental health services will be fully restored next year.

The €12m was set aside for recruiting staff but was not spent, so may be moved elsewhere within the health service.

Ms McDaid said that mental health staffing is down 10% on 2008, compared to a 2% rise in staffing in acute health in the same period.

She said this decision showed the mental health services still lacked parity of esteem.

Increased demand for services required more investment, rather than a demand for existing budgets to be stretched, she added.

Ms McDaid said increased wages in the mental health sector are also needed to attract more staff.

She added that the Health Service Executive had plans to develop mental health services for homeless people, services for people with intellectual disability and in maternal health.

Dr John Hillery Psychiatrist and Director of Communications and Public Education with the College of Psychiatrists echoed Ms McDaid's concerns saying there appears to be an ambivalence among decision makers within the mental health sector.

Speaking on RTÉ's Six One Dr Hillery said the claim that the money was moved elsewhere after it was not spent on recruitment for the mental health sector shows there is a lack of flexibility and a certain silo nature towards funding unless it is used in a certain manner.

He said that all communities in Ireland are affected by mental health problems, adding there is a disconnect at decision making level between what people need and what people get.

He added that funding for mental health and the roll out of services needs to be a priority for government.

Priest concerned over 'limbo' in political process

A midlands priest has said he is deeply concerned about what he described as "the limbo" in the political process at a time when it is urgent to form a government to talk about and respond to the growing number of suicides in the country.

Fr Paddy Byrne appealed to families and communities to come forward and seek the help of agencies who are working to help people at risk of suicide.

He said he had a great fear that people would become desensitised to the reality of suicide in the country.

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