Dr. Eric Kelleher:

I will not take up any more time. Deputy Farrell asked what could be done. As clinicians, we are front-facing. We work in hospitals throughout the country and members know our backgrounds. We see gaps in the services that are available to patients, and under-resourcing of mental health services, palliative care services and chronic pain services. Professor Arensman highlighted that earlier in respect of patients who did an act of self-harm and who had experienced physical pain in the previous year. There is lots more society and the health service can do to provide for patients who sit in that zone between mental and physical healthcare without necessarily having to change the law. I hope we have conveyed what the risks are internationally when the law is changed. As legislators, members may well have to acknowledge that there may be some people with treatable mental illnesses who will come through the gaps. The question then is what number is acceptable in that regard. I do not think any of us have an answer to that.