Students plan to participate in major mental health protest outside the Dáil on Thursday

The protest is in response to the decision to take funding for mental health services out of the 2016 budget.

UCD students will take part in a protest outside Dáil Éireann on Thursday following the decision to divert €12 million worth of funding from the mental health budget. The protest is being organised by the Union of Students in Ireland and Mental Health Reform and will take place outside the Kildare Street entrance to Dáil Éireann at 12.30pm on Thursday. https://twitter.com/TheUSI/status/725276033914556416 Minister for Health Leo Varadkar last week confirmed that funding for mental health services would be taken out of the 2016 budget and transferred back in next year, news that was greeted with much anger by political colleagues and members of the public alike. Angered by the move, a group of UCD students who recently raised over €100,000 for Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland will join the protest outside Dáil Éireann on Thursday. In a statement, organisers for the suicide prevention fundraiser, Cian Byrne and David Burns, explained the mobilisation. “It took a couple of hundred UCD students 6 months to raise over €100,000 for Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland and they - along with the rest of Ireland - saw how few TDs it takes to discuss a future cut of €12,000,000,” they said. “You can say it’s a temporary transfer but the reality is that this money was meant to employ more healthcare professionals in our mental health services and it’s now going elsewhere. It took all of us six months to raise a fraction of that sum and it’s incredibly disheartening to see a mountain of cash casually get diverted from mental health by just 10 TDs. https://twitter.com/nbrez/status/724984645624934400 “We need to look at the situation here: we have one of the highest rates of youth suicide in Europe but depend largely on charities for a response rather than government policy. There’s not even a state authority to coordinate the charities. “We raised €100,000 for Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland, for example. They have got precisely €0 of state aid since 2007 despite a national School Visit programme aimed at early intervention. We’re helping them pilot a new suicide counselling programme for secondary school students. “What could we have done with €12,000,000? It’s no wonder students are angry.” The protest comes in a week where mental health in Ireland is very much in the spotlight. On Tuesday, there was anger at the poor attendance in the Dáil for a discussion on mental health services, where Fianna Fáil T.D. Lisa Chambers called for more money to be provided for the mental health budget.