Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I know it was in an adult context but in the 1990s we set up a crisis intervention team with the nursing union and the HSE that worked within the community. It was very successful. It stopped admissions to hospital. It proved financially prudent and it provided care. I would go a person's home, as a professional, and sit with him or her until the crisis was gone or until that person said that he or she would get an appointment to go to see a psychologist or psychiatrist. I would not leave that person's home until that happened, because I would help him or her to keep his or her children safe. We need to do something like that.

Unfortunately, with the cutbacks and the downturn, the approved centres are the priority for staffing. That all fell apart, but it was fantastic and it was financially, which is what Government listens to, and emotionally good and it kept many safe. I think we could adopt that for children. I have much more to say but I feel a bit of pressure from the Chairman.