Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On Deputy's Neville question regarding recruitment, of the 1,144 development posts approved for mental health from 2012 to 2014, 405, or 96%, of the 416 development posts for 2012 have started. Some 427, or 88%, of the 477.5 development posts for 2013 have started and of the 215 development posts for 2014, 81 have been recruited, of which 77 have started. As of 31 July 2015, a further 88.5 are at various stages of recruitment. Recruitment is well advanced. I do not believe this year should be the end of that initiative. There is a high turnover of staff in this area. Given the special circumstances of staff who work in our mental health services, they have an entitlement to retire at an earlier age, although many of them choose to stay on and are very committed to their positions. It is important this process of recruitment continues into the future. Included in the data provided earlier are an additional 268 posts, which were made available to CAMHS over 2012 to 2014. Approximately 205 CAMHS posts have been filled to date. CAMHS, thankfully, is a very small service. Our children are dealt with in different ways, and that is a significant advance.

I agree with the Minister that Ireland is one of a few countries in Europe that vaccinates all children in relation to BCG. However, I recognise that because this vaccination has been carried out generationally, its current unavailability to mothers and parents is a cause of concern. As the Minister said, there is a Europe-wide shortage of that vaccine.

Deputy Conway raised the HIQA report. That report was done as a briefing for a sub-committee. It was never intended to be published in the first place. If it was done as a report for a sub-committee, technically, it probably becomes the property of the health sub-committee. All HIQA reports are published as a matter of course but, on the other hand, if HIQA completes a report, we cannot compel it to publish it. It can be accessed through a freedom of information request and other such measures, but that report was originally completed for a Cabinet sub-committee. That is something we must keep in mind.

Deputy Neville asked about the budget for Sea Change. Every year Sea Change has been funded from the Department of Health. I would be concerned about that because it is done very much on a yearly basis. It is an invaluable service and has done incredible work. The changes that we see in the conversations around, and in our attitudes towards, mental health-----