Joan Freeman (Independent) | Oireachtas source

While it may sound as if I am attacking Dr. Dodd and Mr. Ryan, I am attacking the system. I presume Mr. Ryan works in the administrative part of the HSE. He mentioned going through 400 cases. How was he able to determine who should be seen and who should not and who should go where? There seems to be a good relationship between Tusla and the HSE, which has not always been the case. Tusla is fully behind the Bill that I am proposing, yet the HSE is not. Where is the disconnect? The previous Minister of State, the HSE and the Government keep talking about the wonderful budget of €850 million, or whatever the figure is, but only 6% of that is for children, that is, €50 million to provide the services for children, or maybe my mathematics are very bad.

Dr. Dodd said he is in that world of mental health services but he is an adult psychiatrist, not a child psychiatrist, which is a very different world. This is not a criticism of the Mental Health Commission but there is no child psychiatrist on its board. How do we get the true picture if there are not people who represent the front line talking about our children on these issues?