“The ‘Sharing the Vision Implementation Plan’ is heavy on aspiration but thin on clear, concrete resource allocations, according to Social Democrats TD Liam Quaide.
Deputy Quaide, the party’s Mental Health spokesperson, said:
“The plan’s emphasis on trauma-informed service delivery is positive but there is no detail provided on what this means in practice, or any related commitment to investment.
“The strength of the previous ‘A Vision for Change’ document was that it set out clear staffing allocations for the achievement of its goals based on population need.
“Over subsequent years this allowed for a clear comparison between actual and necessary service provision.
“By contrast, ‘Sharing the Vision’ uses non-committal, vague language such as “appropriately resourced”, and therefore obscures the government and the HSE’s responsibilities in this regard.
“There is an emphasis in the document on mental health promotion and stigma reduction but a failure to reckon with the core crisis facing our services as a result of the HSE’s continued restrictions on recruitment that have replaced the official embargo.
“Ongoing reviews of service need and bed capacity are offered instead of, for example, a clear commitment to increase vital specialist eating disorders inpatient provision, or adequate staffing measures to address the escalating crisis in primary care psychology services for young people.
“The document acknowledges that implementing ‘Sharing the Vision’ from 2022-2024 was ‘negatively impacted by the HSE’s temporary pause on recruitment’ – rather than admit that the government defended the hugely damaging recruitment embargo.
“It’s very clear that unless we have a radical change in attitude to recruitment from the government, ‘Sharing the Vision’ will remain an aspirational document which will not serve the needs of the many people who require the support of our mental health services.”
April 9th, 2025