Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I assure Deputy Tully my Department is committed to supporting the mental health of the population through the provision of graduates with the key competencies and skills required to be effective in the health workforce and to support a range of clinical teams, including the very important issue she highlights regarding supporting people with eating disorders.

It is a fact that the number of skilled mental health staff that need to be trained or recruited is a matter for the HSE, the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland and other relevant professional bodies. As part of their workforce planning, they need to come to the education system and say what they believe is the number of new people who need to be trained in these positions or professions over the next number of years. I understand the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland recruits approximately 60 new trainees per year and to become a specialist doctor in psychiatry takes at least seven years. The number of trainees is determined by planning for consultant numbers into the future by the Department of Health and the HSE, in collaboration with the HSE's national doctors training and planning unit and the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland. My Department understands that work has now been done in this area by the national doctors training and planning unit in the HSE, which has noted the potential for an increase in the number completing this training in the years to come.

Planning and decision-making for the expansion of those training places is a matter for the Department of Health, the HSE and the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland. My Department, the Higher Education Authority and the higher education institutions stand ready to help. We are committed to supporting the provision of graduates for the health service through undergraduate and postgraduate provision. We are actively engaging, as we speak, with the Department of Health on its health workforce planning needs. If it tells us what it believes is needed into the future and what role we can play in helping that, we stand ready to help. The Deputy has highlighted a very important and sensitive area where we clearly need to train more people. We are working hand in glove with the Department of Health and the HSE to try to assist in that regard.

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