Mr. Stephen Mulvany:

The Children's Rights Alliance is a separate and independent body and we respect its role. However, we have not been engaged on its scoring mechanism. According to its papers on what led to a reduction from a D to an E grade, one reason was the fact that the €20 million in additional investment was not €35 million. We acknowledge that an approximate €45 million extra has been invested in overall mental health services in the 2013-14 period. This is significant.

The issue of children being admitted to adult psychiatric units was another key factor in the grade. That five children under the age of 16 years were admitted to adult units is not acceptable.

A scoring should consider progress over time. In 2008, there were 16 appropriate beds for the admission of children, yet there were 247 admissions of children to adult units. In effect, 75% of all children admitted in 2008 were admitted to adult units. In 2013, the number of beds had increased to 44 and there were 90 admissions of children to adult units. That was 90 more than we would have liked, but it was still a reduction to 32% of total admissions. While this is not just an issue of beds, the number has since increased again. It was 51 when we wrote our paper, but it is now 56. By the end of this year, it will be 66. Next year, it will increase to 74. The remaining increases to 80 and 104 will occur when the new forensic unit at St. Ita's Hospital, the new Central Mental Hospital, opens and the children's hospital opens. There will be significant progress in terms of the investment in beds.

Geography and exceptional cases remain issues. Sometimes, it can be appropriate for children older than 16 years of age to be admitted to adult units. However, a significant amount of progress is also being made in this respect.

As to other indicators, waiting times for CAMHS present an issue. We hit the target of 70% being seen within three months after referral, but it is a priority-based service. More than 50% of all referrals to CAMHS are seen within one month or less. Urgent cases are seen in a matter of days or, if necessary, hours. We have put more staff into mental health services, but we have also accepted more referrals and seen more people. In 2013, the waiting list increased by a little under 500 people, but that increase was much less than the amount of extra work that the service has done. CAMHS is not yet at the stage where it is sufficient to meet an increasing and latent demand, but we have put in place 230 additional posts through the 2012 and 2013 investments-----