Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his question. He rightly identified there is a major challenge with the retention of consultant psychiatrists and psychiatry staff. As he will be well aware, this is a major challenge not just for Ireland. There is also a chronic shortage of staff in this discipline in Europe, America and Australia.

The Deputy asked a direct question, namely, what the Government will do about it. The future for this area lies in telepsychiatry where we will have to start delivering these services online and making better use of consultants' time, thereby ensuring they are doing exactly what they should be doing and not ancillary work that does not have to be done. That is where the future lies in this area. I am exploring that with the Department and the HSE. I have seen telepsychiatry in action in other countries where telepsychiatry machines are used to deliver psychiatric services. It is one of those disciplines that can be delivered online. Many physical health services cannot be delivered online. Telepsychiatry is the future in this discipline that is the direction in which we have to move. I appreciate the Deputy's frustration about this. We cannot keep having the same conversation about there being a shortage of consultants. We need to look beyond that.

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