Minister for Mental Health launches 'Sharing the Vision: A Mental Health Policy for Everyone' Implementation Plan 2025 - 2027
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From: Department of Health
- Published on: 9 April 2025
- Last updated on: 12 April 2025
- Taoiseach and Minister for Mental Health outline government ambition for mental health at National Mental Health Policy Conference
- Sharing the Vision prioritises mental health promotion and prevention and early intervention, in addition to specialist mental health service delivery
Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Minister for Mental Health and Government Chief Whip, Mary Butler have today launched Sharing the Vision: A Mental Health Policy for Everyone Implementation Plan 2025 - 2027 at the second National Mental Health Policy Conference at Dublin Castle.
Speaking at the event, Minister Butler emphasised the government’s commitment to supporting Sharing the Vision implementation through continued investment in mental health services and supports, from mental health promotion, to prevention, early intervention and acute specialist services.
Actions committed to over the 3-year implementation plan include:
- the Mental Health Bill 2024 will be enacted, thereby providing a person-centred and robust framework within which mental health services will be delivered and regulated
- a ten-year mental health capital plan will be developed to ensure a fit for purpose physical infrastructure that is trauma informed
- a national Model of Care for child and youth mental health services will be published and a new Single Point of Access will be introduced for better integration and seamless access and transition between services
- Counselling in Primary Care (CiPC) will have increased capacity and a clear path to universal access to counselling will be designed
- the National Autism Protocol will be rolled out to ensure children and young people with autism have access to assessment and early intervention
- people with mental health difficulties will be supported to access independent housing, including through employment of housing coordinators in all Health Regions
- access to social prescribing will be expanded, including by broadening scope to include targeted supports for young people
- there will be a phased roll-out of Electronic Health Records (EHR) across mental health services
- an evidence-informed model for measuring policy outcomes will be implemented, adopting a phased approach
The implementation plan will also see the delivery of three separate transformation programmes to develop an overarching operating framework for mental health, to design an operating guideline for general adult community mental health teams, and to fully implement the recently published Child & Youth Mental Health Action Plan.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said:
"Investing in, and modernising, mental health services is a key commitment of our Programme for Government. This commitment is fully reflected in the Sharing The Vision implementation plan being launched by Minister Mary Butler today.
"This government is determined to increase numbers of mental health staff through national and international recruitment campaigns, expand the number of training places for key mental health professionals, and develop a 10-year infrastructure plan for mental health.
"I am confident that we can build on the significant progress already achieved to deliver the vital improvements to mental health services and supports promised in Sharing the Vision."
Opening the Conference, Minister Butler said:
"I am proud to launch the new Sharing the Vision Implementation Plan 2025 -2027 today, which is a comprehensive and ambitious plan to guide mental health policy delivery for the next three years.
"Budget 2025 saw another record budget for mental health, for the fourth year in a row, totalling €1.5 billion, meaning that since Sharing the Vision launched in 2020, mental health service funding has increased by over 44%.
"I firmly believe that mental health is everyone’s business and everyone’s responsibility. Mental health is something which cuts across all aspects of life. That is why Sharing the Vision is a whole-of-government policy, and that is why I stand before you today to reiterate the vital message that: There is no health without mental health."
Sharing the Vision: a Mental Health Policy for Everyone places mental health policy centrally in the delivery of Irish healthcare. The 2025 - 2027 plan is the second Implementation Plan published for the policy and contains detailed action plans for delivering all 100 of its recommendations over the next three-year period.
Health Service Executive CEO Bernard Gloster said:
"We know that we can do much to improve the mental health challenges for many people by focusing on early intervention and providing support in the community. We need to understand that people, when they do experience mental health issues, need not just a mental health service so integrating all health services is vital.
"Sharing the Vision is closely aligned with Sláintecare and needs to remain front and centre in the broader healthcare reform programme. Significant progress has been achieved to date from the promotion of positive mental health at the prevention end to highly specialist mental health services on the response end.
"Good examples of improvements can be seen in Social Prescribing supports being now available in every county in Ireland promoting mental health and social connectedness while investment in clinical programmes relating to specialist areas such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Eating Disorders, Early Intervention in Psychosis, and Dual Diagnosis continues.
"Those of us who recall previous policy frameworks for mental health know that implementation is critical. Sharing the Vision is a real example of how services across the HSE are working together to prioritise person centred care for everyone, right across the lifespan. We are committed to this new implementation plan and ensuring that the values and aims within our national policy become practice. I am very conscious that for many people they still experience challenges and navigating services isn’t always easy. We are committed to working with and including patients and service users as we work through this plan."
Year-on-year funding for mental health services has increased by €143.5 million, from €1.338 billion in Budget 2024 to nearly €1.5 billion in 2025. This represents an increase of 10.7% in areas including:
- €5.7 million has been allocated to expansion and enhancement of the national clinical programmes (NCP), including four new teams to complete the rollout of the NCP in Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as new teams for Eating Disorders, Dual Diagnosis, and Early Intervention in Psychosis
- €2 million to support the expansion of counselling in primary care, with a particular focus on counselling supports for men
- €365,000 for Traveller mental health initiatives, including the expansion of the National Traveller Counselling Service, enhancement of both the NCP for Self-Harm and Suicide Related Ideation and the suicide bereavement liaison service with culturally sensitive supports for Travellers, as well as a research project exploring the mental health needs of the Roma community
A wide range of stakeholders will take part in today’s conference, including national and international experts in mental health policy and service delivery, as well as political leaders, those with lived and living experience expertise, and voluntary and community sector partners.
Notes
Sharing the Vision – Ireland’s Mental Health Policy
Sharing the Vision (2020 - 2030) is Ireland’s ambitious, national mental health policy to enhance the provision of mental health services and supports from mental health promotion, prevention, early intervention and specialist mental health service delivery during the period 2020 - 2030.
It builds on the achievements of the previous policy A Vision for Change, with a focus on a wider, cross-sectoral service provision and aimed at the mental health needs of the whole population. Sharing the Vision contains 100 specific recommendations of varying complexity and timeframes.
Between 2012 and 2024, the mental health budget has grown by €601 million of which €352 million relates to development funding for priority service enhancements (see appendices 1 and 2).
The total allocation for mental health services for 2025 is almost €1.5 billion, a record funding level and an increase for the fifth year in a row.
Investment this year focuses on child and youth mental health, including targeted initiatives that support children and young people as they transition from child to adult mental health services, to ensure that they can continue to access the supports that they need:
- €2.1 million has been allocated to NFMHS to deliver 18 new beds to facilitate movement through the care pathway at CMH. The opening of further beds at Portrane will help alleviate serious pressures for the judicial system
- €693,000 for suicide reduction initiatives, including additional funding for the national counselling service for people affected by suicide and self-harm, additional funding for suicide bereavement supports, funding to support the scaling up of CAIRDE, an initiative to support the mental health of men in the construction sector, as well funding for the LGBT Ireland Champions Programme, which offers cultural awareness training for HSCPs
- €2.2 million for initiatives including the expansion of the Family Peer Support model, additional Recovery Coordinators, additional Senior Peer Support Workers, the expansion of Digital Mental Health Supports, the expansion of the Single Point of Access for community paediatric services, including CAMHS
- €2.9 million for CAMHS service developments, including the expansion of CAMHS hubs, additional CAMHS ED liaison supports, additional staffing for CAMHS teams, and funding to enhance the FRC Counselling Therapeutic Framework
These targeted investments have been directed by national mental health policy as outlined in Sharing the Vision, our national mental health policy, and Connecting for Life, Ireland’s national strategy to reduce self-harm and suicide. In broad terms, the continued development of mental health services has been aimed at:
- modernising services that historically were centred on institutionalised care
- promoting positive mental health at all levels of society
- taking a person-centred approach with a focus on enabling and supporting recovery
A note on language
Always use sensitive and non-stigmatising language when discussing suicide mental ill-health and self-harm. For example:
- don’t say committed suicide – it is not a criminal act and this language adds to stigma
- remain non-judgemental throughout and try not to make assumptions about others
- don’t identify a person solely by their mental health difficulty and never use “a suicide” as a noun to describe a person