Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

I accept that. However, I am not clear on the end point — the timeframe for the completion of the assessment. It is important we should have an end point or the assessment could be open-ended, which would not deliver a valuable service to anybody.

My amendment seeks to have the assessment commence immediately in urgent cases, a point the Minister did not address. What does he envisage as being the earliest point at which an urgent case would be dealt with? How would a person suffering from acute depression be assessed? We all know that depression is a serious condition from which more and more people in this country are suffering, many of whom go on to commit suicide, which is a growing problem. The Minister should tell the House the timeframe with regard to a person in need of urgent attention. A person suffering from depression could be fine for a long time but might suddenly be hit with a bout of depression. How will the structure deal with such a person?