Evanne Ní Chuilinn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ms Maher also mentioned the pandemic, which added to all of the challenges and changed the way we all live our lives. It was not only young people who were looking for outlets and were suddenly stuck in bedrooms and could not go anywhere. It definitely brought an awful lot more challenges. How have things changed in terms of young people presenting? How has the delivery of a service changed? Has the funding changed? It was an enormous upheaval to all our lives. During the height of the lockdown, I was really conscious of young people who were already suffering beforehand, either with addiction or mental health, and how the closing in of their world would have made this so much worse. Ms Maher spoke about self-medication and coping skills. A lot of the time this is why young people turn to drugs. How much has changed? Does the funding reflect the extra need?