Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is okay. There is a small article on the budget. I am aware that the witness has said that she expected to answer more questions than to present. It is a political issue because it is a crisis. Given the explosion in the population and the increase in demand by those in emotional distress and by those with diagnoses of mental ill-health, I believe there should be a request or a demand for a lot more finance for mental health. It was an opportunity to make a statement on that.

Ms O'Connor referred to the new eating disorder service. Where is this exactly? Is it operational yet?

The Central Mental Hospital is mentioned on the last page, page four, where it appears to come from the national budget. Is this part of the budget of every CHO? Perhaps the witnesses will explain to the committee where that budget comes from and how it operates, given that the waiting list is 35 people who have had a five-year wait, at least, to be transferred to the Central Mental Hospital.

Everything has changed. It has utterly changed after what has happened in this State in the last two weeks. This is the elephant in the room here. I am aware that it is not our place to ask questions in that regard and I do not intend to, but it is the backdrop to and atmosphere around the confidence within the HSE.

The HSE board is to be re-established. I have tried to work on the issue of service users and patient participation in decision-making tables but I have been getting blanked by the HSE. Ms O'Connor referred to the issue.

We need patient participation on every level and we do not need it to be sidelined into some focus group. We need transparency and the HSE needs to have the checks and balances that are provided outside the health profession. The Minister needs to put his stamp on this more firmly. Effective public participation yields changes in behaviour and in culture but there is a significant lack of trust at the moment.

I often feel that committee members ask questions and the HSE responds but something in our communication is missing and we are not getting through to each other, although I am not sure what it is that is missing. We ask simple questions on behalf of Joe and Josephine Soap and if we cannot get through the barrier, they obviously have no hope. The communications department of the HSE has been in the news. We are all here to work together for an improvement in our public health service. How does the communication department work in the mental health division?