Mr. Peter Hughes:

As part of the agreement on our 2016 recruitment and retention campaign, a subgroup was established to examine the provision of 24/7 crisis intervention services. We were part of that group and continued to push. We wanted to have four pilot sites - two urban and two rural - for a one-year period, after which they would be evaluated with a view to rolling them out, but we could not convince the HSE to opt for them. We agreed the model of crisis intervention and that there would be pilot sites, but we could not get agreement on when the pilot scheme should start. We wanted it to start in the last quarter of 2017, but there is no date for when it will start. That is an issue. If there is no starting date, getting a pilot scheme up and moving will be difficult. The HSE's attention was on implementing and building on the seven-over-seven services. We are in favour of seven-over-seven services, but the four pilot sites could have been run in conjunction with them. There would not have been much of a resources issue. We should have seven-over-seven services within 12 months, but we would have known where we stood in the provision of 24/7 services. It was a lost opportunity. I hope we can establish the pilot scheme in the next few months.