Leo Varadkar has defended spending on mental health services.

It follows reports that the expenditure is to be cut by €12 million euro this year.

The Minister for Health has said there is actually an increase in spending for the sector: “The situation for this year is that the Mental Health budget which was €785m last year will increase to €826m this year.

“So that is a €40-€42m increase in spending in Mental Health this year the biggest increase of any area actually in the health service.”