Mr. Hugh Kane:

As I indicated, we have not finalised the membership of the group. At our initial meeting, we recognised that we had a primary care gap and we are examining how we will address or fill this gap. We are just an oversight group and part of the challenge at oversight group level is to ensure the team has sufficient competence and is able to weld together to deliver what is required. If we get into members of primary care teams and multidisciplinary mental health teams, we could quickly end up with 25 or 30 people sitting around the table. This would have the potential to slow down the process. We have set up a tight oversight group which has a mix of Health Service Executive and non-Health Service Executive members. The HSE piece was important because when we finish our deliberations, the HSE will have to implement and deliver our conclusions. The reason there are a number of HSE staff involved in the group is to hear their views and secure their buy-in and involvement from the beginning. That is the balance we are trying to strike.

We will have consultative structures, processes and ways of engagement with whatever other expertise we need when dealing with a particular matter. This is a high level group which will oversee the work we will do, rather than just doing the work, if the Chairman understands the difference.

I have not been asked to do a rebrand. As I stated, A Vision for Change is a substantial document, much of which is still relevant. The oversight group must try to identify what new elements need to be added to the strategy to produce a new mental health policy for the next ten years. As I stated, I am impatient and I have no interest in a marketing or rebranding exercise. I am only interested in trying to develop a set of actions which will deliver real change for people who need it.