Joan Freeman (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Earlier, I sat among these women who are speaking to us this morning and the description that came to me immediately was that these are warriors of Ireland. We are among five warriors. These are mothers who have travelled a journey with their children and have agreed to come here today to tell the public and the Government about the nature of their journey so far. I call them warriors because they have had to fight tooth and nail from the day their child was first diagnosed to where they are today. They are also warriors because they are speaking in public. They are all very nervous. Not only have they never spoken in this Chamber before, they have probably never spoken about their experiences publicly before and I very much appreciate them and their coming here today.

They wanted to take and show a photograph of their child so that members can see that this is a person we are talking about, not a number. I am asking the Chairman that we ensure that the cameras would not focus on the child because we need to make sure that this child is not stigmatised in any way. The witnesses want to show the people present that they are talking about a little boy or girl.

This public consultation day is about painting a picture. It is about painting a picture of what mental health services are like in Ireland but particularly what it is like for our children and their families. This is not about accusing anyone. It is not about accusing the government, the CAHMS or the HSE; we are here to paint a picture. What we see or hear up to now are reports. There have been 12,000 reports on children and mental health services but now members are going to see and hear the real story about what it is like to live the experience of the services here in Ireland. This morning is about listening to these parents and this afternoon we will listen to what it is like for the service providers, those who are on the front line, to work in this area and with the resources available to them.

I thank the Chairman and everyone for coming here this morning. I am sorry there is not a bigger turnout. I know that Ms Kelly, for instance, has been up since 4 a.m. and travelled from Sligo, but I can assure her that I will continue to fight for her on this.