Dr. Amir Niazi:

We definitely need more funding. At the same time, if one provides more funding to us today, we might not be able to spend it, because we also need to have trained staff available to recruit and all of that. A Vision for Change came out in 2006. It recommended one team for 50,000. Things have progressed internationally and even here since then. I will give the Deputy an idea; clinical programmes started in 2010 and 2011. In the past three years, we have developed nine eating disorder specialist teams, out of which five teams are for children. We need another three teams to have a full circle available in the country. We completed a model of care two years ago for mental health intellectual disability, MHID, in children, which was launched last year. We have funding available for 14 posts. We need 18 posts for full programme roll-out, but we have nine people at present. Nine teams have been added to the 73 teams. There are nine MHID teams and five eating disorder teams.

We hope to launch a dual-diagnosis programme this year. There will be four hubs for children. The first hub we hope to start on will be in Dublin, in CHO 9. That will be included. The model of care we are hoping to start now for CAMHS ADHD will include a continuity model with adult ADHD. There are consultants recruited on the hub sites in the perinatal programme, who will look after and provide support for children up to one year of age. Over the years, we will be rapidly developing those teams to provide support to children with early-intervention psychosis. We already have self-harm nurses for children in the three hospitals in Dublin and we will be replicating with the suicide crisis assessment nurses, SCANs, for those children. The model of care for the CAMHS liaison teams is very near completion. A professor is completing it.

We have definitely increased the number of teams in the past few years, from 60 to 73, but, on top of that, these are the specialist teams that have been added on and which were all developed post-A Vision for Change. These are the new developments that have happened since A Vision for Change came out. With all of those teams added on, we have many more resources available for children. All of these teams happen with the extra funding that was provided to support children and we will continue to replicate them, but we also wish to keep a balance. We do not want to develop more specialist teams and lose people from front line and secondary mental health services. We wish to keep the balance; to develop and build on those 73 teams to reach the 101-teams target. At the same time, we wish to continue to invest in the specialised teams and find the right balance between the two.