Dr. Shari McDaid:

It does not. The €98 million does not include that. We are currently spending between €6 million and €7 million a year on the counselling in primary care service. That is helping 11,000 people a year to get free counselling. The WRC estimated that 600,000 people, who might have a common mental health condition such as anxiety or depression, could benefit from such a service. The gap is enormous. Hundreds of millions of euro could be added to that €98 million. Every €1 added in increasing easy access to counselling and psychotherapy would give a €4 return on the investment because of lower healthcare costs for the rest of the health system, lower social welfare payments and increased productivity with people getting back to work more quickly.