Gabrielle McFadden (Fine Gael)
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Seven minutes is a limit, not a target and, therefore, I will stick to that. I welcome the witnesses and I thank them for giving of their time. Their opening statement was depressing and negative. Despite that, almost €1 billion was spent over the past year on mental health services, with an additional €59 million to be spent in 2018 and a further €55 million in 2019, which is positive. Dr. O'Hanlon said only 6.6% of the health budget goes to mental health. How is that percentage calculated? Did he include the money spent on mental health by the Departments of Education and Skills, Children and Youth Affairs and Justice and Equality?

FEMPI has been a major problem in general and not just in mental health services, but the Minister for Health is working on that issue. Appointments have been made. For example, 120 psychologists are being appointed. The recruitment drive has been successful and it is expected that those positions will be filled and taken up shortly. It is, therefore, not all negative. Are salaries the biggest obstacle to recruiting psychiatrists? How much is a psychiatrist's salary? If I come out of college after seven years, what is the starting salary as a junior and what are the salaries as I work my way up to being a consultant? What are the different posts available? I would love him to compare those to his counterparts in the NHS. When I hear stories about psychiatrists, I find that the salaries that consultants earn are very high. Doctors of psychology probably spend seven or eight years in college. They work their way up to principal grade, of which there are few in this country. The salary is approximately €105,000. How does that compare to a psychiatrist's salary? What do the equivalents earn in the NHS?

Dr. O'Hanlon referred to inpatient accommodation. That is a difficulty for us but people are accommodated as inpatients and do well. When they return home, however, they do not do so well in their normal, day-to-day life and then they have to be readmitted. What is his opinion on psychiatrists being part of home care teams? A patient is supported to live at home in the conditions that caused the difficulty in the first place - the trials and tribulations of life. People get cocooned in an institution and they achieve a certain level of recovery but then they return to the place where it all started to go wrong for them. If more work was done by home care teams, including psychiatrists, perhaps fewer acute beds would be needed.

Telepsychiatry is used a great deal in the US whereby psychiatrists engage with clients on Skype. The clients visit a primary care centre with proper facilities and the psychiatrist has dealings with them through Skype. Will the witnesses comment on that? I would like direct, specific answers, particularly to the question about salaries. I am curious about the salaries and the different grades.