Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The retention issue is very frustrating. The Irish Timesreported last Monday that 300 doctors have visas for Australia. There is something wrong. Surely if we can produce doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists and so forth we can retain them. Surely a structure could be put in place. Much of it is to do with the unions as well. Let us be honest and frank here. If we are not going to sort this out the committee will go around in circles. There will be departments for this, that and the other and a review of a review of a review. There are 47 or 48 reports now and an average of 500 people die by suicide each year, excluding accidental poisoning, possible filicides, single vehicle crashes and accidental drownings. We do not know what the numbers are. That does not even refer to the marginalised society, such as Travellers and so forth, where we have no records. I am very worried that we are going around in circles and I ask Mr. Saunders and Dr. Muldoon for their opinions on that.

If we keep going the way we are going at present, will the whole mental health system implode, fall apart and fizzle out, because we seem to be losing every single ingredient to bake the cake in the pot?