Dr. Eddie Murphy:

It is not that psychology and psychiatry are mutually exclusive. It is important that there is a requirement for one-to-one and day-hospital visits in the step-care model; children do get mentally ill, but there is also a focus on those services in primary care. I support the provision of psychology services in primary care and not at the network level service.

Approximately 70 psychologists, from the three branches of clinical, educational and counselling psychology, are trained in this country every year. It takes approximately eight years to be trained as a clinical psychologist. That is three years of undergraduate study, two years of master's study and then a three year professional doctorate programme. One of the ways to look at the provision of psychology services is in primary care or at children's centres of excellence, which include all our other colleagues such as physiotherapists and occupational therapists, where we can capture children with disabilities, autism spectrum disorder etc. coming through as well as those with mental health issues.

There has been a creeping casualisation of the alcohol culture in Ireland over the past 20 to 30 years, and it has a significant impact on youth suicide, self-harm and mental health. Some specific proposals on this would concern advertising, purchase price and having specific areas for its purchase that would nudge people rather than it being in their faces when they are in shopping centres. For example, a person can buy alcohol when getting fuel for the car now. This casualisation is really inappropriate and I support the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill.