Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 4 July 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Future of Mental Health Care

Mental Health Services' Funding and Performance Indicators: Discussion

2:45 pm

Photo of James BrowneJames Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. McDaid and Ms Mitchell for attending. As ever, it has been an enlightening meeting. The Mental Health Parity Bill passed Second Stage in May - which was mental health month - with cross-party support. Unfortunately, a message was received from the Ceann Comhairle today to the effect that the Bill requires a money message from the Government. The Bill's provision mirror those which are already in operation in the UK. Could the witnesses address the importance of parity and having equality of supports? It does not mean that for every penny spent on physical health, a penny must be spent on mental health services. Rather, it requires that mental health has parity of esteem in the context of support.

I refer to what are sometimes called silos and to the gatekeeping that goes on, particularly in respect of mental health supports for schoolchildren. I have raised this with the Department of Education and Skills on a number of occasions. A report by Dr. Rosaleen McElvaney of Dublin City University's school of nursing and human sciences, which was funded by St. Patrick's mental services, was published recently. The report finds that primary schools are struggling to help suicidal children as young as four years of age. It reflects what I experience as I go around talking to primary school principals, teachers and other staff who are struggling to cope with very serious mental health issues which are starting to arise and which were perhaps not as common ten, 20 and 30 years ago. A great deal of it is to do with the Internet, what young children can access on it and the effect it has on them psychologically.

Much of this is meant to be addressed by the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, but there are issues with children being on the wrong waiting lists. Sometimes they are on a waiting list for a year and then are told they should have been on a different waiting list.

Will the witnesses comment on silos and the gatekeeping that goes on? CAMHS have little to do with community psychologists and they are treated separately. Will they comment on the disjointed nature of how we address the mental health needs of our young people in particular? For example, it was reported that there were 110 children under the age of four waiting over one year for access to community psychology services.

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