Ms Ann O'Connor:

I do not know the particular agency but the Deputy mentioned a few issues.

With regard to funding I believe we answered a parliamentary question on the allocation and spend in 2017. Our 2018 funding has not really been spent yet. Generally it is mid-year before we start spending that year's allocation and we are still working off 2017 funding, if that makes sense. The funding from 2016 and 2017 is going into the opening of new acute units, the enhancement of the acute units in Limerick, Galway and Drogheda, and into a high observation unit in Kerry. Acute care is at the upper end of costs. The combined cost in 2017 for those was €4.6 million.

In 2017, €3 million was allocated to primary care-based mental health supports such as assistant psychologists. These assistant psychologists in primary care are now employed. They are not there long enough to know the impact they are having on the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, side of the house.

We have enhanced the Jigsaw funding and we have improved patient safety by looking at additional posts, especially in some of our more acute units. We are doing a lot of work in our forensic services looking at prison in-reach. We have the largest capital project ever in mental health in Ireland advancing very quickly in Portrane, which is the new forensic hospital.

We have developed our eating disorders services with a number of teams, adult and CAMHS, for eating disorders. There are all of these different services, including peer support, and part of the challenge is that when one refers to €20 million or €35 million it sounds like an awful lot of money but when one considers the nine CHOs and the specialties in CAMHS, general adult and psychiatry in older life and some of the more marginalised groups such as people who are homeless, Travellers, forensic services - which is also high-cost - the funding goes quickly. We must balance this out to try to raise all the boats.

Parts of the State are very highly resourced and when we consider the average funding across the State, and I hate to break it to the Deputy that CHO 2 is actually quite well funded compared with a lot of the other areas. There are other areas that have never had a psychiatric institution and do not have the pot of gold that some areas have, not that it is enough now. However, areas such as Kildare, for example, come from a different place.

That is our challenge. We cannot turn off services. We have to keep services going and continue to enhance them.