Mental health must come first when this crisis is finally over

Funding for mental health services is only 6 per cent of the health budget, while Britain and Germany spend nearly twice as much

Street art in Dublin created by the collective Subset shows health workers wearing face masks. The coronavirus pandemic is likely to lead to a mental health crisis, with frontline workers among those most at risk. Picture: PA

The Covid-19 pandemic is a global health emergency, the scale and nature of which is beyond anything any of us have experienced in our lifetimes. The mental health burden associated with it is also likely to surpass anything we have previously experienced.

A tsunami of mental health need will arise some time after the initial pandemic peak, and will persist for months to years afterwards. It will be amplified by the economic fallout, pervasive media ...