Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Another part of the work we have been doing on unmet needs which I have raised with the Minister of State a number of times is child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, and indeed special educational needs organisers, SENOs. The past 12 months with Covid have shown some deficiencies in both of those entities. We saw in some CHOs that CAMHS was out every single day using Zoom and every platform possible to get into the homes of kids, appearing on screens and delivering many therapeutic supports. That did not happen in all areas. There are a number of overlapping matters here, with portfolios covering health, education and children. Someone needs to undertake a review of how CAMHS has functioned over the past 14 months because it has been very hit and miss and I hope the Minister of State, as a champion for disabilities, would look at that.

SENOs are good people but they are not qualified to take on an educational psychologist's role, look at a voluminous report, rubbish it and strike out key recommendations. With her role regarding disabilities, I ask that the Minister of State would champion that. That is a matter of the unmet needs of a child. A voluminous report to provide structure and support for that child in future was not fully implemented and that is a significant failing of the system.