Page 67 of the programme for Government deals with youth mental health. In 2017, the national youth mental health task force reported, the only mental health initiative from this Government specifically for young people. However, it has been left to rot on the shelf due to infighting between Departments. The Minister with responsibility for mental health has blamed the Minister for Finance, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, who is failing to fund Pathfinder, the interdepartmental team charged with implementing the report. The Minister, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, has refused to answer questions on the matter and is effectively washing his hands of it.

Mental health services for young people are in crisis. In Cork, children are being sent to emergency departments. There are now almost 3,000 children on waiting lists and child psychiatrists are resigning because of poor working conditions. When will the Government take child mental health services seriously, and when will it fund Pathfinder and the national youth mental health task force?

I thank the Deputy for his questions. The Government is taking the report very seriously. We have a number of different initiatives, which it will take too long to deal with now. Specifically, however, the Deputy is mixing up Pathfinder and the youth mental health task force. The latter is not dependent on Pathfinder, a revolutionary project for the State aimed at breaking down the silo-like mentality that has existed between different Departments heretofore. I regret, and I am on record in this regard, that this has not yet come to pass and we are still waiting for the Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform to approve the Pathfinder project.

The recommendations contained in the youth mental health task force are being rolled out. As the Deputy is aware, this year alone we have recruited 116 assistant psychologists and 20 psychologists specifically for youth mental health, and ten advanced nurse practitioners to assist consultants where there are vacancies. The Deputy is aware I had a conference on Monday where I brought in all the digital online platforms and experts in telepsychiatry and telepsychology because I cannot make two consultant psychiatrists out of one where only one exists. That is something beyond the capacity of this Government and that of governments across the world. The Deputy is well aware that I am looking at new and innovative ways of dealing with those challenges and I intend to address them head on.