Professor Joyce O'Connor:

I agree totally with what the Senator said. It is very frustrating because people do not know. That is why having a liaison person in each area who actually does that is really important. I agree with my colleagues here but there are other people in the community who can be used and who people do not know about. We have to address that.

The other thing, which the committee can follow up, is that the national youth mental health task force report was published on Tuesday. In each of those areas, it has given a timeline and outlined the people who are responsible. Believe it or not, some of the timelines start next quarter. I think everybody would agree we have tonnes of reports but the problem is following up and seeing what has been done. This report has a timeline and people who are responsible. It is absolutely crazy that education is not in that mix and that there are not counsellors in this area. The report addressed that. We need to see that it is implemented. A Vision for Change was set up in 2006 and we are still talking about it. This complements it. We should look at this report and ensure it is contained in it.

A national phone line has been set up for people with severe mental health issues. Has anybody tried to use it? The number is 8255. It creates a referral pathway. If the person mentioned was at home he or she would ring 8255 and would be given the name of somebody in the local area. There is no question that there are funding issues. Our colleagues can go through that in detail. The emphasis should be put on the local. Members should look at their local areas and see what is there and ask if it is being communicated. There are a lot of NGOs getting money from the State and they are focused on different things. The Minister can tell them what they are getting their money for and what they have to do but they are under-utilised. They could work with GPs. It is not just GPs; there are other community resources that would also help.

We all know the problems but we also know what the solutions are so we have to ask why it is not happening. Everybody wants it to happen.