Dr. Fiona Keogh:

In respect of Deputy Colm Burke's question on geographic areas, we know there are geographic inequities in accessing services across Ireland. While rural areas have specific challenges, much of the time, the gaps are in urban areas because of the disproportionate increase in population and the disproportionate spread of development in the country.

Speaking to Deputy Gino Kenny's question on how we move forward in terms of increasing funding, as we increase the funding for the mental health system incrementally, one way of doing that would be to tag it to levelling up so we target those areas where the gaps are and the geographic inequities lie and direct funding in that way. This means that every year, every area will not get the same because we need to own that and take a mature approach to addressing those inequities.