Dr. Joseph Duffy:

I will take some of those questions and I am sure my colleagues will come in. The Deputy asked whether there is a crisis and there absolutely is. There is a crisis of demand. There is a crisis in trying to meet staffing needs. There is also a crisis in terms of vision, how we are looking at the issue and how we understand it. Not understanding something and not thinking about is a stand-alone issue.

The Deputy also asked about policies. I am not best placed to respond to that because it is about looking at the policies that are there, how they are implemented and how they will be implemented, tracked and supported over time. However, one of the things that our colleagues, including Ms Murphy, said earlier was that everybody working in the health system is, without a doubt, very well-intentioned. They are trained to work on a systems level. What is happening is that in many ways, as Mr. Smyth said, they are being forced to work on the individual level. There is a real need to think about how we can use the valuable resources that are there. What tends to happen, as we all know, is that we get invited to participate in the development of a particular policy. That is a fantastic opportunity that people love and that fills them with energy. It is then left to be implemented but the day job must be done. It is important to consider how we free up time to believe that we need to build this system and need to put the resources and time into it while, at the same time, the tide is coming in and there are so many needs and resource shortcomings, and so many young people needing support. That is why, as I said earlier, it is not just about deciding we are going to fund particular counselling hours. We must consider how we are going to free up some expertise. That is something with which we struggle within our organisation. If we want to run a new initiative, we need to take somebody who is experienced. We also need to think about the benefits of what that person is going to bring to the service. It is about having staff with a range of experience. Those are the benefits of assistance, of having people from multiple professions.