Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy. We are talking about people who require specialist attention and help. The Deputy talks particularly about consultants but obviously those consultants are working with team members as well. I fully acknowledge that we still have a massive amount of work to do and that we remain below the recommended levels. The 17.5 consultants are working with teams that include psychologists, clinical nurse specialists, registered nurses and doctors in training. The 5.5 consultants currently being recruited will be working with teams as well. In the case of the children's teams, we currently have 4.9 consultants working with small teams and a further 5.5 consultants are being allocated. There is a significant problem with recruiting nurses, particularly in this area. We have added 60 nurse training places for this year and that will increase to 70 next year. Over the next four years that will increase by 45% in total. That is taking into account maternity leave, retirements and so forth. I agree we have a huge amount of work to do and that we are below average. However, a huge amount of work has taken place in the last number of years and that will continue.

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