SDLP Health Spokesperson Mark H Durkan has welcomed an announcement from the Health Minister where she allocated £750,000 to suicide prevention and mental health programmes.
He said the Minister’s announcement came after sustained calls from the SDLP for increasing vital mental health and suicide prevention funding.
Mr Durkan added; “This long awaited announcement is most welcome. The SDLP have, for a while, been banging on the Health Minister’s door to address critical gaps in mental health funding.
“While £750,000 for 60 organisations will provide limited relief, without the detail of the application of these funds it is impossible to see how far funds will stretch.
“This is certainly a small step in the right direction, but people across the North will agree that if the Minister is serious about addressing local pressures, she needs to do much more than make a small financial gesture.
“Mental health and preventing suicide should be priority areas at the heart of our Government, while it is good Michelle O’Neill has now decided to take up the mantle, we need much more ambitious, tangiable and practical commitments.
“People are suffering, they need help and they need it now.
“The SDLP want to see increased and targeted mental health spending. Next week we will publish our manifesto which includes policies that demonstrate that mental health is a priority for the SDLP.”
