Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Last year, the Minister for Health said that additional funding and support from the Government turned into a 21% increase in the number of new patients being seen but that the problem was that demand for services rose by 33% during the same period. That funding resources and staffing have not kept pace with demand is clearly an issue from what the witnesses have said.

The issue of CAMHS versus disability services has to be fixed. It cannot be going from Billy to Jack. It is not fair on anybody. Rather than picking one of them, is the solution to say that CAMHS is in charge and it has to have funding for disability specialists? Is it the case that we need co-location of services and co-operation between disability services and CAMHS? How do the witnesses see this? What is the best approach?