Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank everyone for being here today. I would be hard pressed to find a group with whom I would like to talk through the mental health impacts of Covid-19 more than the Traveller community. It is a timely discussion. I have a couple of questions. I will start with the slightly dry question of the issues around data. We hear over and over again at the health committee and this committee and in a number of other areas about a lack of data collection and the failure of the State to provide disaggregated data. It is a particular problem in the health system.

Only a few weeks ago at the health committee, we heard from NGOs in the area of cardiovascular health and they said they could not get the long-term services that people recovering from stroke and heart disease require because they do not have access to the disaggregated data. I cannot recall who said what gets measured gets done. I am interested in the issue of allowing budgets to follow the numbers of people who need a service. I would like to unpack that a little because there is a particular challenge with mental health given that it always sits on such a spectrum. The witnesses are dealing with people who have significant challenges and are at risk of self-harm, but then there are cohorts that just need ongoing support. I am mindful as well that we are trying to bring in well-being indicators which would affect budgets, but that is all predicated on having enough data to do that. Could we talk about that for a moment? What do the witnesses think the barriers are to that? What we are hearing at other committees is that there is concern in particular Departments relating to GDPR and sometimes people are reluctant to provide particular information. Do the witnesses think that healthcare staff or staff at the point of access to education or whatever else need training in how to broach that kind of data collection? What do they think could be done?