Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The clinical programmes have been expanded across the country for the past three years. The Deputy stated that he met Lucena. I met it last week. It has two new ADHD teams that were approved this year and are in place. I was delighted to hear that. As regards psychosis, many of the clinical programmes are originally started on a pilot basis and then rolled out. I travelled to Sligo this year, where there is a new psychosis team in place that is doing phenomenal work.

I take the point being made by the Deputy. He knows there are demands on the availability of staff. Since I have come into my role, however, 800 new posts have been funded. To date, 423 of them are in place and there is currently recruitment of 360. I want to recruit people into all the multidisciplinary teams in order that the teams are padded out. It is very important we do that. It is irrelevant whether the funding was secured in 2021 or 2022. The posts were secured and they are being recruited now. The most important thing is that we get people into these posts and deliver the services for children.

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