In April 2025, an implementation plan for mental health services was published entitled Sharing the Vision: A Mental Health Policy for Everyone Implementation Plan 2025–2027 (https://www.hse.ie/eng/about/who/mentalhealth/sharing-the-vision/sharing-the-vision-a-mental-health-policy-for-everyone-implementation-plan-2025-to-2027.pdf). This is the second implementation plan to be published by the Department of Health, following the publication of the national mental health policy, Sharing the Vision: A Mental Health Policy for Everyone (https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/publications/mentalhealth/sharing-the-vision-implementation-plan-2022.pdf) in 2020. The three-year implementation plan sets out specific actions including:
- The enactment of the Mental Health Bill 2024 to be prioritised, setting out a robust framework for how mental health services will be delivered and regulated;
- A 10-year mental health capital plan will be developed;
- Counselling in Primary Care (CiPC) will have increased capacity and a pathway to universal counselling services will be developed;
- Roll out of the National Autism Protocol 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;
- A phased roll-out of Electronic Health Records (EHR) across mental health services;
- Measurement of policy outcomes will be implemented on a phased basis.
The Mental Health Bill 2024 (https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/bills/bill/2024/66) was restored to the Dáil for consideration in February 2025, having passed the second stage in 2024, ahead of the general election. The bill is a lengthy piece of legislation with several amendments attached that will be debated as it moves through the committee stage. Once enacted it will replace the previous Mental Health Act 2001, bringing changes and provisions including:
- A revised set of criteria for involuntary admission and detention of people with mental health difficulties;
- A renewed approach to consent to treatment for involuntarily admitted people;
- Expanded powers for the Mental Health Commission’s regulatory function to include all community mental health residences and services, including all community CAMHS;
- A closer alignment with the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Acts 2015 and 2022;
- Improved safeguards for people accessing inpatient treatment;
- Care and treatment of children and young people, including refusal and consent to mental health treatments by young people from the age of 16 and up.
The HSE Child and Youth Mental Health Office was set up in September 2023. In February 2025, it published its first three-year Action Plan entitled HSE Child and Youth Mental Health Action Plan 2024–2027 (https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/4/mental-health-services/camhs/publications/hse-child-and-youth-mental-health-office-3-year-action-plan.pdf). The overall aim of the plan is to provide care that is age appropriate, person-centred, easy and safe to access. It sets out 16 key improvement actions for a comprehensive reform of child and youth mental health services in Ireland, including the establishment of an electronic health record, the development of a single point of access (SPoA) for all child and youth mental health referrals, and the development of a national Model of Care for Child and Youth Mental Health Services (CYMHS).
Connecting for Life: Ireland’s National Strategy to Reduce Suicide 2015–2024 (https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-health/publications/connecting-for-life-irelands-national-strategy-to-reduce-suicide-2015-2024) is to be updated, and a public consultation was launched by the Minister for Mental Health on 5 March 2025. The public consultation closed on 18 April 2025, and the results will be analyzed by the National Suicide Research Foundation (https://www.nsrf.ie) and fed into the government’s new suicide reduction strategy from 2026 onwards.