Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Reid and all of his HSE colleagues for being here today. It has been a very challenging time over the last two and a half years in dealing with Covid. Today my focus is on mental health services and in particular, on services in my own area which is the Cork-Kerry region. I have been looking at data on population changes in that area over the last six years.

The population is now 736,500, which means that it has gone up by 45,000. In relation to workforce planning for mental health services, is that now being looked at to address the need for getting additional staff? I understand from people working in the mental health area that there has been a huge increase in demand for services, which may or may not be related to Covid-19. What plans are being put in place now to try to deal with this new increase and with the pressures that are on staff? What plans are there to look at having a comparable number of employees, compared to the increase in population of the area?