Ms Ber Grogan:

On that point, the numbers have been reducing but it is an obligation under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child that we stop the practice of admitting children to adult units. We are due to appear before the UN committee on the Convention on the Rights of the Child this year. The State has to report back on what it is doing. The State's draft report from last year does speak about the reform of the Mental Health Act as the legislation that is being brought forward to remedy this, so we are either remedying it or we are not. Mr. Kiernan spoke about an ideal world and this is our opportunity to legislate for an ideal mental health service. This is the once-in-a-generation, historic opportunity to put the legislation in place and then the State has to meet its obligations with the resources.

The Mental Health Commission's reports are so detailed and there is a huge amount of information there. Kerry hospital was the one with the highest number of patients under 18 admitted to the adult unit. Sharing the Vision discusses the move from children's mental health services to adult mental health services for those aged between 16 and 25. Now we have an opportunity to say that there must be age-appropriate facilities for young people, children and adolescents, when they are in crisis. If we specifically prohibit it now in this legislation, the State will have to do something.