Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I totally acknowledge that far too many people have been waiting too long to access the services they need. That is true of child and adolescent mental health and of mental health more generally. It is true of our health service generally. The question is what we can do about it. The first step is to provide additional resources, funding and staff. We are using taxpayers' money to do that. Since 2012, an additional 2,000 new mental health posts have been approved and 1,300 of them, or two thirds, have been filled. That is an example of the recruitment that is happening. Perhaps there is not as much recruitment as we need. There have been big improvements in counselling services. I am sure the Deputy is familiar with the Jigsaw service, which has been expanded. I think everyone agrees that this service has brought about a real improvement in mental health services for young people, particularly because they can refer themselves to the service. There are new Jigsaw sites in Cork, Limerick and Dublin, bringing the total number of sites to 13. As the Deputy is aware, we have worked on legislation with Opposition Deputies and Senators, including Independents. A Bill that was proposed by Deputy Browne became law within the past couple of months. We were happy to co-operate with Fianna Fáil to get that through. In the same vein and in the same spirit, we are happy to co-operate with Senator Freeman to get her legislation through. I have had a very good meeting with her on how that legislation might work. I think we can get it through in the autumn session.

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