Mr. Jim Ryan:

As the Deputy will know, we have four inpatient units, with ones in Cork and Galway and two in Dublin. At the moment we have an operational number of about 55 beds. There is a bed meeting going on as we speak that will tell us how many young people are in there at the moment. Last week it was 31 and there were two or three on the waiting list or in triage. The Deputy is right that staffing is a significant issue. I was before this committee last year about Linn Dara and we had a plan then to reopen the closed 11 beds. Unfortunately, the number of staff we were able to recruit did not allow us to do that so that unit is still operating with 13 of the 24 beds. Operationally, we have similar challenges in recruitment, particularly at the nursing level and in the Dublin units but also in Galway and Cork. I cannot give the Deputy a timeline for when we will be able to open all of those beds but in the meantime we have a very focused meeting every Tuesday morning about how many young people have been referred, whether they are in triage or being assessed and then there is a prioritisation of those young people across all four units. Dr. Burke can say more on that as a child psychiatrist.