Dr. Niall Muldoon:

Okay. If there is a crisis, I suggest there is an entitlement to act differently. The committee clearly highlighted the 18 strands in need of recruitment and the steps that will have to be taken. In a crisis, we can adjust the rules and say we need to do something differently. We may need to train somebody or give him or her something different, such as better continuing professional development or various forms of encouragement, on the basis of it being a crisis area. I have highlighted County Wexford on numerous occasions, as have members. Many other areas are not doing well. We can certainly take a different approach in that regard. Due to the crisis, one cannot continue with the same approach all the time.

I have highlighted the issue of funding on numerous occasions. We have increased the funding for mental health to 6% of our total health budget, or €1 billion. We still do not know how much of that €1 billion goes towards children, given that, despite numerous requests I have made, the figure has not been broken down. My best guesstimate, for which I am being optimistic, is that €200 million, or approximately 0.5% of the overall health budget, goes towards children. In the rest of Europe, 10% of the health budget is spent on mental health, a great deal more of which goes towards children. They are simple steps at a macro level. If we could determine how much is spent on children, we could start to work towards increasing it, as I have previously highlighted.

My colleague will discuss online safety.