Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

There are different ways to address a crisis and to perceive something as a crisis or a problem. There are hierarchies within the issues the State is dealing with. There is the idea that because we are now focusing on assessment we are losing out on intervention. Basically, there are not enough resources. We always hear it comes down to staffing, we cannot get the staff and we are looking at doing it abroad. If this were treated like a real crisis, for example Covid, there would probably be a way to address the issues. This is what I am trying to impress upon the HSE. From what the committee hears, it is beyond crisis point. People cannot get respite. They cannot get early intervention. I understand the issues with regard to assessments of need but if this were treated like an absolute crisis, would there be ways that we could speed up recruitment from abroad? I do not know what the precise issues are in this area. Can we do more? We need to do to more. How do we do this?