A petition has been launched to stop cuts of more than a third in mental health services proposed by the Department of Health and HSE.

Acting Minister of State for Mental Health Kathleen Lynch is reported to be fighting the cuts, which will reverse the pledges to ringfence the country's meagre spending on mental health.

Click here to sign the petition. 

Niall Breslin, for one, is hoping to see a lot more coverage given to the HSE's reported plans.

Mental health conversation squeezed onto @ClaireByrneLive . However, #cblive have suggested they will do full show on it. #fingerscrossed

— Niall Breslin (@nbrez) April 19, 2016

Dr Shari McDaid of Mental Health Reform said the putative move showed a lack of respect for mental health patients.

"Ring-fenced funding for mental health should not be viewed as a pot of money to prop up other areas of the health service.

"It doesn’t show parity of esteem between mental and physical health and proves that we still have a struggle on our hands to ensure mental health is taken seriously and given the priority it deserves."

Labour Minister of State Kathleen Lynch - who holds overall responsibility for mental health - is resisting the plans to downsize the budget according to the Irish Times.

"Such a decision would have a very serious negative impact on the implementation of mental health policy,” she wrote in a letter sent to Department of Health secretary general Jim Breslin last Thursday.