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

Let me again be absolutely clear. The Deputy is perfectly entitled to raise any concern he has about any aspect of the mental health service that is within my remit for as long as I am in this position. He does not have to ask if I will meet him; of course, I will always meet Oireachtas Members. I cannot give a guarantee to meet every individual in the country who wants to meet me, but if Oireachtas Members wish to meet me, there will never be any issue.

On the wider issue, I am not accusing anybody of being reckless. We want to be clear in the interests of everybody. When a story gains legs, people begin to fear things when there is no need to fear. The Deputy knows that the budget for mental health services is €1 billion, with an additional €55 million being allocated this year alone for new initiatives. Since becoming Minister of State my focus has been on supporting and enhancing mental health services such as Jigsaw. They are the real winners. We are trying to move people away from the specialist upper-end services. For that reason, in the past 12 months we put 114 assistant psychologists to work in the community, with 20 psychologists and ten advanced nurse practitioners for young people. That is having a sizeable impact in reducing the child and adolescent mental health services waiting list.

Will there be a service in Clondalkin? The HSE has advised me that there absolutely will be. There are management changes and staff may be discommoded. I do not know, but that is not a concern I am picking up at this point. The service will be available in Clondalkin until the end of the year. Next year we will look at possible co-location in premises in Clondalkin, but we absolutely intend to maintain a service in Clondalkin. However, there are staffing changes to build a complement, critical mass, and have staff working together under a single tier of management. That is a better and more efficient use of our managerial resources and will ensure there will be more front-line services available for young people in the Deputy's area.

Recently I was in the very impressive Village Counselling Service where some exceptional work is being done. I am a huge promoter of working from the ground up within the community and lower level intervention, rather than escalating to the higher level. I hope I have provided the assurance sought by the Deputy.

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