The College of Psychiatrists of Ireland (COPI) welcomed the announcement in Budget 2026 of increased staffing and expansion of mental health services but warned this must happen as an urgent priority while increasing the mental health budget.
Minister for Mental Health Mary Butler announced 300 new staff for mental health services in Budget 2026.
The total allocation for mental health for 2026 will be almost €1.6 billion, which is an increase for the sixth year in a row. Mental health funding has increased by over 50 per cent since 2020, the Department of Health said in a statement.
The College said that the speed of implementing these new measures will be key to gauging their success. Given the increase in costs associated with delivering services in recent years, the decisions made yesterday “will be meaningless without continued focus and sustained, improved funding,” according to the College.
The College also cautioned that its allocation of the overall health budget remains too low and should be brought up to, at minimum, 12 per cent of the overall allocated budget for health.
“We thank Minister Butler for her work on this Budget and the improvements that will hopefully be made to mental health services as a result,” said Dr Lorcan Martin, President of COPI. “That said the College believes more can be done to bring mental health services in this country up to the standard it should be at.”
“The mental health portion of the overall health budget should be at 12 per cent. Despite the pledge of €27.4 billion for health, we are still a long way away from hitting this target. We await measures that will make a permanent difference to the mental health of Irish people.”
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