Ms Ber Grogan:

On that point, I will say what Ms Moore Ryan said. If someone is already in CAMHS or accessing CAMHS, that person has gone through a series of referrals, and has gone through difficulties and experiences.

We in Mental Health Reform would say what the Government has been saying about other areas for years, which is that prevention is better than cure. The funding should go to early intervention and prevention. Funding for mental health is an investment rather than a cost. The longer term return on financial investment is worth it, never mind the return as regards the human costs associated with young people experiencing mental health difficulties. Early intervention and prevention services are provided by many of our members in the community, in schools and in community organisations like Jigsaw, Pieta, the ISPCC and A Lust for Life. There are loads of services offering these early intervention and prevention services so why would we not invest in them? They got nothing in budget 2024. There was a very disappointing announcement of 68 new posts for CAMHS in budget 2024 but no increase in funding for organisations in the community and voluntary sector even though demand for their services has gone up exponentially. Why are we trying to fix the later pieces when we should be looking at what is happening earlier?

Obviously, recruitment is an issue. I know Bernard Gloster is coming before the committee later. It would be great to find out if the recruitment embargo also applies to mental health. We have heard that it does but that there is a derogation for disability, allowing for some posts in that area to be filled. If that embargo applies to mental health services, that will have longer term impacts in years to come.

I was thinking about what would have happened if all of the policies and recommendations that have been made over 13 years or more had actually been implemented. In 2017, there as a national youth task force working on a youth pathfinder project. Its recommendations have not been implemented. There are some great recommendations in Sharing the Vision and there is some really good work happening but there is no new development funding in budget 2024. Bits of the progress that have been made are going to stall and that is going to impact on children and young people. I do not know if Ms Moore Ryan has anything else to add.