Mr. Jim Ryan:

It may be worth mentioning that over the past five years, approximately €22 million in additional funding has been allocated to CAMHS in particular and we spend around €136 million on CAMHS. That does not include money that is spent on young people's mental health through primary care. Other areas of the HSE, apart from CAMHS, spend money on youth mental health. That is important, as sometimes the figures suggest we are only spending 12% on CAMHS but that it is in addition to what is being spent in primary care, health and well-being, and other parts, that is what is being spent on young people's mental health. Clearly we need to have the right staff in place at the right time and that is what we are trying to get to. However, the point Dr. Burke made was that Vision for Change was of a time.

We need to look at the model, because we will not be able to provide all those staff in all the places we need, in the way A Vision for Change would initially have looked at. It is interesting that Sharing the Vision, which is the updated version of A Vision for Change, did not mention the numbers; it spoke about domains and outcomes. That is what we need to focus on. What is the best we can do for young people who need those services? CAMHS, at the end of the day, is for 2% of the youth population. Those are the numbers on which CAMHS needs to focus, because what sometimes happens is we end up with many more young people seeming to need CAMHS when, in fact, they need a lower level of engagement earlier on to make sure they do not move up through the system.