Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all five ladies for their moving presentations. There is a common theme running through all of them, namely, that those under 18 have fallen through the cracks because they do not fit in with adult services.

The HSE report stated that only eight out of the 17 provide weekend services. That is something we need to focus on because, from listening to the witnesses, it is out of hours - after 5 p.m. and at the weekends - that they find there is a lack of services, a lack of co-operation or a lack of staff to be able to see to the needs of their sons and daughters and the many children who are affected unfortunately by mental health issues. They all put together fine presentations and I am very sympathetic towards their case.

On Tuesday, I visited a community centre at which a new autism unit has been opened. This unit is children aged between three to six years. Even though I had been in a number of services in the past with different people, it was a moving experience to see the very small children's needs and to see the way that they had built up over a couple of months a working relationship with the teachers and that the parents were brought on board. It is important that we start early at a young age, but obviously the witnesses were not aware of that because, for the majority of them, it is as the children got older that issues started to arise.

The committee needs to look at the out-of-hours services and the lack of needs for the under 18s because that is very important. I thank them for their presentations. Certainly, I have taken them on board.