Mental Health Services Seanad Éireann — 2025-10-15 ============================================================ Kieran O'Donnell (FG), Limerick City I thank Senator O'Loughlin for raising this important matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health, Deputy Mary Butler. Improving access to a range of youth mental health services nationally remains a priority for the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, the Department of Health, and the HSE. In the broader context, the total allocation for mental health services in 2026 is nearly €1.6 billion and it is the sixth year in a row in which the mental health budget has been increased. Specifically in relation to youth mental health, this year’s budget provided funding for new early intervention youth mental health services, funding to support a digital single point of access for youth mental health services, an additional specialist CAMHS eating disorders team, two new mental health intellectual disability teams for children and five new mental health discovery colleges for young people. As occurs each year following the budget, discussions will now take place with the HSE on details relating to specific service initiatives in the context of preparing the 2026 HSE service plan, including that for mental health. Jigsaw already receives significant funding of over €14 million from the HSE under a service-level agreement to provide youth mental health services for those with mild-to-moderate mental health difficulties. This service-level agreement is managed by the HSE at national level. Under budget 2026, Jigsaw has been allocated an additional €1.3 million to support the development of new services, including a service for the south east, based in Waterford city, with outreach into south Kilkenny, south Wexford and west Waterford, and an extension of the service in Limerick into County Clare. No new physical Jigsaw locations have been funded since 2020 when the organisation pivoted to develop a suite of new digital services during, and in the aftermath of, the pandemic. These digital services are available to all young people in Ireland, no matter where they are based, directly from jigsaw.ie. Jigsaw has since focused on the delivery of its existing services, including the adoption of a new single-session-first clinical model which has proven to be effective at achieving very positive mental health outcomes for young people while reducing waiting times. Over the past year, the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has been examining the different options to expand access to early intervention youth mental health services, including inviting proposals from Mental Health Ireland, the organisation behind the Mindspace Mayo service. The Minister of State is aware of the significant efforts by the Senator to establish a service for the young people of Kildare and will work with representatives from all areas to deliver full national coverage for early intervention youth mental health services. I note the specific ask by Senator O'Loughlin regarding Kildare and Newbridge. I will highlight this to the Minister of State and the Department. I know the Senator has had detailed discussions with the Minister of State and I expect those will continue. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-10-15/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:14+00:00 Sitting date: 2025-10-15