Máire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The HSE was established over a decade ago. Why did nobody put a red alert on the lack of speciality financial reporting, in this case obviously mental health and CAMHS? Do the witnesses not find the lack of financial report accounting for sub-specialities unacceptable?

The biggest problem in the health services is recruitment and retention of staff. Every year we were told that an extra €35 million was coming to the mental health budget. There were sighs and disbelief that it would occur and that we would actually see it working on the ground. Why do we not plan for recruitment and retention? The HSE has plans but they have not worked. There was €20 million this year and €20 million last year. The Roscommon services returned €18 million supposedly because they could not spend it. They could not recruit the staff, meaning that the HSE spent it in other areas. Is there no planning for getting a bunch of money together and really going after recruitment and retention? That is where our services are falling down and it is why the HSE, in particular mental health services, is in such a mess.

The money seems to go into the black hole of agency. Is there a figure for mental health spending on agency to patch up our inpatient and outpatient services? While the beds in Linn Dara in my area have reopened, it was closed for a long time, which was unacceptable for our young people. If another €35 million of €40 million is allocated next year to recruitment and retention, it will not happen because we are not encouraging our nurses who are leaving the country because of the terms and conditions and the chaos in the services they are trying to provide. Why do we not ring-fence the budget? Why is it spent elsewhere? That is the crucial point in understanding why we are failing in the health services. Do the witnesses not find the lack of financial reporting unacceptable and that nobody said what is going on here because we do not have those figures?

What is the difference between employing the 120 assistant psychologists in the primary care teams and what Jigsaw has offered, which is 90% funded by the HSE? That also targets those aged under 18 years.