Camillus Glynn (Fianna Fail)

This increase is delivered in a hospital system where, it is acknowledged, there is a need for a significant increase in the number of acute beds, as articulated in the national health strategy.

The reduction of the number of patients in psychiatric hospitals through the development of a range of community-based services is another great achievement. The number of in-patient residents in psychiatric hospitals fell from 20,000 in 1960 to 4,256 in 2001, a huge achievement by any standard. Those people are living a normal life consistent with their capacity to do so. This has been achieved through the health board system.

Health boards have developed a number of specialist services in recent decades, such as child and adolescent psychiatric teams, consultant-led substance misuse teams, psychiatry of later life teams – where there is a centre at St. Loman's Hospital in Mullingar – and specialist teams for persons with autism.