Dr. Joseph Duffy:

I thank Deputy Neville for his comments on Jigsaw Limerick. He asked about development and expansion. Jigsaw is in 13 individual services in nine counties. There are five services in Dublin. We have done some future planning, which would be part of our strategic plan, to look to develop Jigsaw to have national coverage. We would expect that to be around 24 services. The reason we say that is because we know that for some counties, based on population, geography and the actual transport infrastructure, it is better to look at them as joint units so if we are in Sligo-Leitrim, it might be one unit. We are in Offaly at present and if we were to move to Laois, we could expand into Laois. We are looking at it in two ways. The first is to consider whether there are current Jigsaw services we can expand on an intercounty basis? In this context, Offaly to Laois would be one that would not demand a significant investment. The second part of it is looking to expand so that we are working to have nationwide coverage. As I mentioned earlier, we are working with the HSE in evaluating the Jigsaw service. This is being done independently. The HSE expects to have a report at the end of June on that. That is effectively looking at where Jigsaw fits within the wider mental health system. We would see it as very much fitting within primary care. What we hope to see coming from that would be an agreed plan we could develop on a phased basis and look at all the learning we have generated so far and how we work with communities where there is significant knowledge about youth mental health and there are significant other structures in place. That can really help Jigsaw to grow and develop very well.

In tandem with that and with support from the corporate sector, we hope to develop the e-mental health side of it because we know that we will not be able to see every young person in a Jigsaw service even if we had national coverage. We want to encourage and develop information giving and interaction and, ultimately, encourage online support, as has been mentioned before. There is no firm plan in place for the future expansion but we are very hopeful around that. We know that in terms of our development, so far, there has been very much a trial-and-error model in terms of developing it, looking for funding, developing the evidence and continuing to develop that. Our relationship with the HSE is very positive but it will take a significant amount of time. We would love to reach national coverage within the next five years.