Mr. Mark Darmody:

That is a legislative matter. The AON has to take priority because it is the law for that to take priority. It would take a change of legislation for anything different to happen. They have started recruiting for the service. My understanding, to be fair to the Government, is that there is a great pick-up and they have got lots of applications. However, the CDNT is toxic, so it is like a car crash. Deputy Ardagh said yesterday in the Dáil that the CDNT model was broken, so why are we persisting with it? The problem I have is I know we will be here next year. When the Taoiseach hears his own Deputy standing up and telling him that, we know there will not be any action from it. It should be a wake-up moment that his own are telling him this is broken. The answer is there. The system is 100% broken with the CDNTs.

The AON has to be done by the law, but now we are not doing that, so we are breaking the law. The optics for anyone looking in on this are terrible as well. That is the bottom line. Extra staff will be needed. The Taoiseach has conceded that. More than 4,000 psychologists are working away every single day in this country and no one has knocked on the door and said, “This is an emergency and I need you now.”