Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is to give us a profile of how matters are progressing, what is waiting insofar as new drugs are concerned, the potential conditions to which they apply, and the impact they are likely to have on the health conditions of patients.

A lot of work has been done on child and adolescent mental health, etc., and the Minister of State has done a huge amount of work in that area, which is appreciated. However, it is a massive challenge and the extent of it has increased in recent years. The reason is obviously that there are competing health issues that need to be addressed in the short term where the intervention is likely to have a substantial impact on the quality of life of the patients concerned. To what extent is that meeting anticipated targets? I know we are coming from a long way back. We had Covid and so on, which pushed things further back. Nonetheless, we cannot continue to say it is a problem area and we will deal with it. We need to deal with it now. That is the most likely way it will impact on the quality of patient care.