Mental Health advocacy groups will gather outside the Dáil today to protest against the diversion of funds from the Mental Health Budget.

The Union of Students in Ireland and Mental Health Reform are slamming the recent decision to €12m to other areas.

It comes as a recent report revealed that one in seven adults in Ireland experienced a mental health difficulty in the last year.

USI President Kevin Donoghue has said that taking from the most vulnerable in our society is a bad decision; “There is a lack of funding across institutes and across the country for services that tackle these problems.

“I mean you are waiting sometimes up to six weeks to get a counselling appointment for people who really need it and people are doing the best with the resources that they have.

“And a decision to take that amount of funding away from the something when people are crying out for it is quite a punitive step and I don’t think it will help anyone.”

Meanwhile Psychiatric nurses in Laois Offaly are to vote today on whether to take industrial action over the understaffing of their service.

Their union, the PNA has said there are currently 29 vacancies in the two midland counties.

Nationally there are 700 vacant posts in mental health services.

The Psychiatric Nurses Association believes 1,000 nurses are now needed to fill current vacancies in Ireland.