Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, and Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly. Perhaps the committee could have a brainstorming session on telepsychiatry with an expert working in the field. This would allow members to educate themselves on the issue, which I do not know enough about to be able to comment. If a new initiative is proposed, we should try to explore it and make an objective judgment on it.

The Chairman referred to IT systems. These are front-end rather than back-end IT systems and from what I have seen, it may be possible to provide telepsychiatry services on a front-end IT system. I am simply making that suggestion.

The problem with back-end IT systems was highlighted. In November 2017, I asked for some simple figures on the €35 million spent in 2016 on mental health services. How much of this was used to improve existing services and how much was spent on the development of new services? I do not believe the committee has received those figures. Is that correct?