Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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We wish. The €39 million is something we will have to address collectively. I cannot prejudge that here and give a commitment to anything specific. However, I repeat that I am open to any suggestions and ideas that will come from this committee in time for that service plan. The discussions on the plan will take place in the next number of weeks so this meeting today is very timely to focus our minds, attention and, hopefully, resources on that as well.

To be clear, I repeat what I said earlier about the specialist services. We could try to recreate CAMHS teams and similar highly specialist services especially for Travellers, but I do not believe that would be the way forward at high specialist level. I want to focus on access. That is what I have done from the first day I was appointed Minister of State with responsibility for mental health. We have looked at the online space, which is about providing mental health assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week to people where and when they need it. That is the future, whereby people can access help through their telephones, iPads or in local community primary care settings where they can call into their GP and have the provision of these services 24-7. We are rolling out pilots of telepsychiatry and telepsychology. Again, it is improving the access to these services and ensuring they are available when and where they are needed. All of that will benefit Travellers as well as anybody else. It is about focusing on access and making services more accessible to people when they are needed.