Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for her kind words. I am delighted to put on the record of the Dáil that for the first time ever in history of the State we now have a national office for youth mental health within the HSE. We never had that previously. Dr. Donal Kelly took up the post on Monday of this week. We also have the clinical lead in Dr. Amanda Burke. I hope this will pull all of the strands of the services we have together to try to make things more effective.

The Deputy mentioned Hacketstown, Rathvilly, Tullow and Borris. There is a programme in place at the moment. Primary care centres have been rolled out across the country over the past ten years. I will check the status of some of those. Obviously, it depends on population and demand in a particular area, as well as budget. We know primary care centres are very important in communities. I will check that out for the Deputy and revert to her in due course.

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