Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for her question. It is something I have looked into from the perspective of providing primary care psychology for children with mental health issues. Legislation would be required to set this up. The National Treatment Purchase Fund works very well for people who need hip replacements, knee replacements and cataract operations, but it is much more complicated for primary care psychology because a child could need four, six, eight, ten or 12 appointments. The Department has been looking into this to see how feasible it is. Between September and December of last year, €4 million was allocated to reduce primary care psychology waiting lists for children waiting longer than 12 months. We managed to reduce it by 1,600 children. This year, working with the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, I secured another €5.5 million for a targeted approach to try to reduce these massive waiting lists. I will ask the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, to speak to the Deputy about disability.

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