Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I acknowledge that there is complexity to this but my understanding of the situation on the ground is that the under-resourcing is so severe – I know Mr. Chambers is one of the people trying to resolve that and it is not necessarily his fault or anything like that; it is people working with him – that children and others in serious circumstances are referred to primary care teams that themselves are under significant pressure.

My final question, which is related to that, is that part of the problem is there are not enough mental health professionals, such as psychologists and psychiatrists. That is probably also true in other countries. In the view of the witnesses who are here as representatives of psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals, what more can be done to recruit and retain mental health professionals? Does it relate to the cost of getting clinical experience?