Mr. Bernard Gloster:

In fairness I have not yet had the chance to meet Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and I intend to do that and see exactly what it is she believes the priorities within the bigger picture of mental health reform, improvement and service management are. I need to pursue that. I am shortly due to meet some of the key people in the mental health service and to hear first-hand exactly where it is at. To be honest, my sense of it, and I stress this is my sense of it, is that the system is currently struggling and under pressure to respond to the level of demand to deal with issues such as consultant recruitment. Whether it is in adult or in child and adolescent mental health the Senator will know well the documented challenges we have seen in Kerry and in other situations. Before we get on to major strategic improvement the service is struggling with that. Not unlike the reference to Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, with older persons the Mental Health Commission has a function and has presented us with challenges around outdated infrastructure, outdated practices and so on. There is quite a bit to focus on and quite a way to go. My point principally is that in the midst of dealing with the very obvious and urgent need to tackle urgent care and hospital waiting lists which directly impact the health of people today, we cannot forget the significance of the impact on people's mental health and well-being. My focus is on what the next phase of improvement we can make in the service is, regardless of what the legislative framework for that is.