Ms Jean Manahan:

I concur with everything Dr. Barry is saying. I am smiling to myself because when I was on holiday with my son recently, his smartphone got smashed on the first day. I thought it would be a major tragedy, but we had the most wonderful conversations and the most wonderful holiday. We had eye-to-eye contact in a way we had not had for some time. The other key thing is the question of access, to which I have referred. I emphasise that there is a cohort of highly trained professionals who could be part of the solution and would be able to respond more quickly and more proactively. I know this because I am coming from the Irish Council for Psychotherapy. I do not think the creation of an accessible and affordable service is rocket science. Somebody asked about cost-benefit analysis earlier in the meeting. Significant research has been done on that in other countries. I think we need to look at it because if we intervene in an effective way now, using the resources we have, it will save the Exchequer a substantial amount of money in the long term.