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

I thank our guests for being here. We have spoken an awful lot about the governance of CAMHS in south Kerry. I want to touch on probably the most important people, who are the children. I travelled to Tralee a few weeks ago and met parents and their children on the issues in south Kerry. Their stories are absolutely heartbreaking. I am going to relay one of them in as generic a fashion as possible so as not to give away the identity of the child, with the permission of the child and her parents. This child is now 16 years of age. In primary school, she showed some mild forms of anxiety after being subjected to bullying. Her parents and the school put things in place and then she thrived.

Outside the primary school, she was enthusiastic and eager to take part in extracurricular activities but she was nervous about the prospect of going from primary school to secondary school, as a lot of children are. She started getting anxious again in the last few weeks of her summer holidays over the prospect of a new uniform, new people, a new school and new surroundings. During the transition from primary school to secondary school, she started to suffer from panic attacks and her GP made a referral to north Kerry CAMHS. She had just turned 14 at this stage in 2019. She was immediately put on Prozac and melatonin. This is returning to what was said earlier about other treatments being undertaken in conjunction with medication. Her parents immediately asked what other treatments were available and she was put on a long waiting list for cognitive behavioural therapy.

On the third visit to the CAMHS, her medication was increased. She was turning into a virtual recluse. Her parents reported, as did the girl herself when I met her, that she started losing her personality and her smile, which was heartbreaking to see. She was having trouble sleeping and was prescribed a sleeping tablet. This sleeping tablet was Tevaquel, which the young girl found out by reading the leaflet is an anti-psychotic medication. As I said, her personality went and she started losing touch with reality.

In February 2021, she was moved from north Kerry CAMHS to south Kerry CAMHS, where she had her first interaction with Dr. Sharma, who, as we know, is the whistleblower. He immediately took her off the medication she was prescribed. In his professional opinion, she was on the wrong medication. Her parents, like any parents, including me, trust medical experts when it comes to the care of our children. I must say the trust in CAMHS among parents and children is now at an all-time low. I deal with this issue every day of the week. This girl's parents reported that their daughter had missed many opportunities in life because of being over-medicated or misdiagnosed. Her parents then received a letter from the HSE - from Mr. Fitzgerald, in fact. I have it in front of me. Mr. Fitzgerald mentioned he has a team working with him but this is one of the most badly written letters I have ever seen. It is littered with spelling mistakes. It was very disappointing for the parents to receive this letter. Spelling mistakes aside, this letter stated that on review of her files, there was no adverse outcome or issue of concern. This was one of the 1,332 files that were reviewed by CAMHS and this girl is not one of the 227 who have been deemed at risk of harm nor is she one of the 46 children placed at a risk of significant harm. Did the CAMHS team actually sit down, meet and have a conversation with any of the parents or children prior to sending out these letters? Was that a part of the review?