Minister for Mental Health Mary Butler signs WHO declaration on integrating mental health into all government policies
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From: Department of Health
- Published on: 17 June 2025
- Last updated on: 17 June 2025
Government Chief Whip and Minister for Mental Health, Mary Butler has signed the WHO declaration on ‘Mental Health in All Policies’ on behalf of Ireland in an effort to integrate mental health in all government policies.
Minister Butler has travelled to Paris to represent Ireland at a two-day WHO (Europe) conference (16 and 17 June) and to contribute to a high-level ministerial panel, hold bilateral meetings with the Ministers for Health of France, Lithuania, and Malta and attend a working lunch hosted by French Minister Yannick Neuder to discuss a range of issues of mutual interest.
During the high-level meeting, Minister Butler shared examples of where Ireland has been successful in driving positive outcomes in mental health in collaboration with other government departments. In particular, the Minister highlighted the positive engagement between the Department of Health, Department of Housing, Local Authorities, and the Health Service Executive (HSE) to provide supported housing to approximately 500 people with enduring mental health difficulties in 2024.
Minister Butler also highlighted a new initiative by the Departments of Health and Justice and led by the HSE and An Garda Siochana in Limerick to pilot a collaborative approach (CAST) to those in a mental health crisis through a joint response from clinicians and Gardai. The pilot is already showing success in diverting people in crisis away from busy emergency departments and away from the criminal justice system.
In addition to sharing Ireland’s experience to date on cross-departmental collaboration in mental health, the Minister also spoke about further plans to strengthen comprehensive responses across the social determinants of mental health in housing, employment, justice and social protection.
Integrating mental health into all government policies is essential to addressing the complex interplay of social, economic, and environmental determinants that shape mental wellbeing. Mental health does not exist in isolation, it is deeply influenced by factors such as housing stability, employment conditions, education access, community cohesion, and environmental quality.
Speaking in Paris at the conference, Minister Butler said:
"It's really important mental health is considered in all government decisions, not just in health, but in areas like housing, employment, justice, and the environment. Our mental wellbeing is affected by many parts of our daily lives, such as whether we have a safe place to live, an adequate income, access to education, and clean, green spaces. By including mental health in all its policies, Government can help create a fairer and healthier society where people get the support they need early on. This joined-up approach can lead to better mental health for everyone in the country.
"I appreciate the opportunity to be in Paris to sign the WHO declaration on integrating mental health into all government policies and to share Ireland’s story on cross government collaboration on mental health to date.
"We have made a lot of progress in mental health in Ireland compared to our some of our counterparts in Europe and I’m encouraged by the interest and feedback from other EU Members States in the reform and improvement agenda we are pursuing."
Remarking on the cross sectoral nature of Ireland’s Mental Health Policies, Sharing the Vision, Connecting for Life and Pathways to Wellbeing the Minister said:
"One of Sharing the Vision’s great strengths is that it has a very wide focus, with initiatives that cut across multiple branches of Government. This is because mental health is, and should be, everyone’s business, everyone’s responsibility. Sharing the Vision looks at the role of housing, the justice system, education, social protection in helping to keep people well, or to support people on their recovery journeys. This very much speaks to the theme of this high-level meeting. It is a great opportunity for us to develop and reflect on work in this area, both internationally and in an Irish context."
Minister Butler joins Ministers with responsibility for mental health from Armenia, France, Lithuania, Malta and Moldova, EU Commission officials, representatives of European Union countries, Iceland and Norway, and representatives from the Eastern Partnership countries at the high-level meeting in Paris. Participants also include high-level policymakers from across government sectors, health professionals and people with the lived experience of mental health conditions.
Notes
Mental Health Policy
Sharing the Vision - A Mental Health Policy for Everyone (2020-2030) is Ireland’s 10-year ambitious, multifaceted national mental health policy to enhance the provision of mental health services and supports to the whole of population, from promotion, prevention and early intervention to specialist service delivery.
It places the individual at the heart of service delivery and contains recommendations for services to address and accommodate the specific needs of individual service users, adopting a rights-based, person-centred approach to service delivery and shift from institutionalised care to community-based services, through addressing the social determinants of mental health.
The implementation of Sharing the Vision takes a ‘whole-of-government’ approach towards implementing recommendations and monitoring progress. This involves government departments, agencies, service providers and other stakeholders service users, families and carers with lived experience working together in a coordinated way.
Sharing the Vision contains a number of recommendations for which different government departments and agencies have implementation responsibility, including Department of Justice, Department of Education, Department of Housing, Department of Social Protection and other agencies and partners.
Suicide Reduction Policy
Connecting for Life (CfL) is Ireland’s National Strategy to Reduce Suicide. The Strategy focuses on the primary and secondary prevention of suicidal behaviour and addresses a broad range of risk and protective factors.
Implementation is overseen by the Cross Sectoral Steering Group chaired by the Department of Health, and there has been three implementation plans for Connecting for Life across its lifespan to date; ensuring a structured approach to implementation and enable coordination across government departments and agencies on key actions in the strategy.
Suicide reduction initiatives have been advanced in many areas, including local government, justice, media, agriculture and health.
Pathways to Wellbeing – Ireland’s first Mental Health Promotion Plan
Pathways to Wellbeing – the National Mental Health Promotion Plan is a cross-government plan which aims to improve people’s mental health and wellbeing at population level. The plan, published in December 2024 is Ireland’s first cross-government mental health promotion plan and was launched in December 2024.
The first Implementation Plan for the Mental Health Promotion Plan is expected to be developed and published in 2025.
Interdepartmental Steering Group for Mental Health
To enhance interdepartmental engagement processes and structures, and as a key commitment in the Sharing the Vision Implementation Plan 2025-2027, the Department of Health is currently establishing an Interdepartmental Steering Group for Mental Health to advance mental health as a priority issue across several government departments.
This will facilitate opportunities for strategic planning and cooperation to ensure integration of mental health across all government policies, create linkages between existing areas of policy delivery, and integration of mental health policy with other departments’ programmes of work. The Group will be Chaired by the Department of Health and will support the delivery of Ireland’s mental health policies: Sharing the Vision, Connecting for Life (and successor strategy) and Pathways to Wellbeing: the national mental health promotion plan.
WHO Collaboration
Ireland was heavily involved in drafting the Paris Declaration on Mental Health in All Policies, signed by Minister Butler on behalf of Ireland at the conference in Paris.
Ireland is committed to international dialogue, knowledge sharing and problem solving in mental health and is contributing to the work of the WHO through a number of workstreams:
- Ireland has recently provided feedback from seven government departments and Agencies into the WHO Europe Guidance on policy and strategic actions to protect and promote mental health and well-being for key government sectors
- Ireland is working with WHO Europe and will be engaging with other European countries to develop a roadmap on digital mental health, which will provide examples and guidance on how countries can best develop digital mental health supports for people of all ages
- Ireland is contributing to the WHO Europe Roadmap 'Transforming mental health through lived experience' (due to be launched on 30 June 2025)