Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not object to that. A Vision for Change was published with the intent of implementing it in full. That is a challenge but I do not disagree with it. It was not published for the sake of just having another publication.

The Headstrong organisation developed the Jigsaw model and it is now delivered throughout quite a number of counties including Donegal, Galway, Roscommon, Kerry, Meath, north Fingal, Dublin 15, Tallaght and Clondalkin and it is to be extended to other areas. The Jigsaw unit in Cork will be operational in 2017 and the HSE provides over €9 million there. I have experience of some of these having visited them. They are organised, run and structured by young people and it is amazing the way they connect with each other as young people to help those who have particular challenges or little concerns.

The national task force on mental health, which people had sought for a long time, was set up by the Minister of State in the first 100 days of Government and it deals not only with young people but also with older people. It is made up of a diverse group of 18 leading national figures who are very competent to speak on these matters. They represent a number of different sectors, including the public, private, community and voluntary sectors, and look at the areas of improving emotional literacy in the population; awareness of the services and the supports that are available; accessibility to those services and the supports at different times and in different areas; and the alignment of the services and the supports, which is important, across different providers in terms of public, private, community and voluntary organisations. That task force has held three very productive meetings. It agreed key factors for its work. It has visited front-line services, including a number of the units around the country, where it met the service users, parents and front-line staff. One of the elements of the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee's, commitment is to ensure the voice of young people and children are at the centre of that task force's work. The first in a series of consultations was held with young people aged between 19 and 25 on 17 November. The young people discussed what help and assistance would be useful, what hurts their mental health, what impacts on them, the changes they would like to see the task force deliver, and a report on this will be brought to the task force's December meeting. Each task force member has identified a number of individuals or organisations in their sector that have a depth of expertise and experience of youth mental health issues, services and solutions to form a small community of practice that will be available to those who need it and that will also offer views, ideas and perspectives from their sector to the task force being charged by the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee. That helps to ensure that the work of the task force is informed in the best way possible because it is coming from young people.

I also add that the Government has made money available to the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, for a major development at Portrane at a cost of €40 million plus, which has been awaited for nearly 100 years.

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