Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On my priorities for the first 100 days, I am only two weeks in the job and I will try to answer every question as honestly and ably as I can but it would appear that the biggest issue in the mental health area is CAMHS. Following on from the contribution of Professor O'Connor I am hopeful that there is something we can do in this area. I do not know yet how much I can do but I will give it my all. My first priority is to get my ahead around the issue. My second priority will be to give my all to address of the issue and third, to make progress. I am determined to do that and I will work with all involved and do all that is possible to that end.

In regard to Senator Kelleher's question regarding Professor O'Connor's suggestion, I am willing take it on board. I look forward to having a conversation with the professor to tease out further what she is proposing. Notwithstanding the Senator's allergy to the words "task force" that is what Professor O'Connor has proposed. We already have a task force on youth mental health, the final meeting of which I will chair next Tuesday in Dublin. I look forward to receiving the report of the task force to see what tangible steps we can from it. As a task force, it did not run too long. During my first week as Minister of State I attended a task force consultation in Farmleigh. I hope that this task force will guide some of the steps I will take in my time as Minister. I would not be allergic to any task force in respect of which a time limit is put in place. A task force is effectively a group of people with expertise in a certain field. We all have views and opinions but we need experts to feed into areas in order to arrive at solutions. I appreciate Professor O'Connor's style. I support solution-led politics. We can talk all day today and tomorrow about what is wrong and we can continue to list all that is wrong in eloquent style but what I want to hear are solutions and I will welcome solutions from all contributors. I am particularly enthused by Professor O'Connor's solution-led submission today.

In regard to whether my budget is big enough, budgets are never big enough. The budget for this area is approximately €1 billion. I am more interested in what can be done, how we do that with what we have and in ensuring we get value for money. Perpetually looking for more resources and money to be thrown at the problem is not the solution. That is not the politics I subscribe to. How we do what we do must be held up to close scrutiny, which is tough. It is easy as a politician to look for more money and resources but it is a lot more difficult to scrutinise how we do what we do and that is what I will be championing during my tenure as Minister in this area, however long that will be. I hope I have answered the Senators' questions. I also thank Senator Freeman for the hospital pass to allow me some time to settle into my role.