Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It has been an interesting day. We deal with these matters in terms of questions concerning mental health facilities at the Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs, which is ongoing. In the context of mental health reform, the priority is approved centres. Therefore, we have a dearth of child and adolescent mental health services because we have to go with the approved centres in the first instance because that is stipulated in legislation. It was mentioned that legislation should be enacted to ensure that CAMHS funding is ring-fenced in its own right and cannot be touched or go back into the adult services. I would our guests to expand on that.

Reform of the Mental Health Act, which Senator Freeman is trying to progress, should provide for a stand-alone child section. That is worthy of inclusion and perhaps we are beginning the consideration of that here.

I thank Mr. Peter Hughes, my colleague from the Psychiatric Nurses Association. He mentioned that almost 3,000 children in Dublin alone tonight with be without a bed. They could represent the Magdalen laundries of the past and the tribunals of the future. We need to cognisant of that and to act well.

We need to realise that we do not have a single mother and baby bed for postpartum women, which is significant. We have nothing in place to embrace a mother and baby at the start of the baby's life. The public health nurse has a important role to play for mothers who need help at home. In addition to only ticking the boxes for eye co-ordination, hearing, balance and so on, there also needs to be a box for mental well-being and emotional well-being.

We need to train our public health nurses in that. I know there are psychiatric and intellectual disability nurses in our union but it would be interesting to approach them to see if we can change that in the school of nursing.

In respect of the Lucena Clinic I am a strong advocate of, and believer in, group therapy where it is possible and necessary. I know the service gets individual referrals but has Mr. Hughes thought perhaps of the milder form of distress among teenage girls and boys and that there is perhaps an opportunity for some sort of regular group therapy at school, with a professional, to explore what is happening in the mind of a teenager? We all went through it but growing up can be distressing. It might be helpful to steady the group, give them a sense of themselves and a sense of empowerment so that no matter what they do, the outcomes will be good. It will help them reach adulthood, to mature and maintain loving relationships and contentment with life. Given that there is such a big demand on psychiatric nurses could the schools provide some sort of group therapy that is more cost-effective but also more emotionally effective?