Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair and both groups for their comprehensive opening statements. One of the areas on which I would like to touch relates to, as the witnesses also mentioned, the chronically underfunded and understaffed mental health services. These are impacting the care the people receive. It was mentioned that Ireland's percentage of the budget is almost half of the international best practice. I have been trying to change the postcode lottery of treatment for a long time and I have highlighted this for a long time. Treatment should be based on need and not where someone lives.

I want to mention CAMHS in Kerry, because it was brought up. I travelled down to Tralee at the weekend, where I met parents and children who are directly impacted by the situation in CAMHS. It was heart-breaking. As a parent, I could see the devastation and the look in the parents’ eyes. They trusted medical professionals to give the best care possible to their children and they did not receive that. As the report said, children were misdiagnosed, they were over-medicated, and they were also offered little or no supplementary therapy. I heard directly from the children's mouths how their lives were affected and how they have lost so many opportunities because they were basically sedated.

I know that there were some objections in Professor Doherty's opening statement to the term "chemical restraints". However, in my opinion and from listening to these parents at the weekend speaking about CAMHS, this is exactly what happened to these children. One of the most common themes that came up was that children had been instantly medicated after their first consultation. They were not offered complementary treatments, such as psychology, occupational therapy or speech and language therapy. There are currently 71,000 children waiting for these life-changing therapies. Therefore, my first question to both groups, is that in their own professional opinions, do they believe that other therapies, such as talk therapies, are important? Do they feel that these can aid or replace the medical model?