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

I again raise the issue of children being admitted to adult mental health facilities. I accept that CHO 7 has the best record in the State for not admitting children into adult facilities. I am concerned that the closure of Linn Dara could lead to more children entering adult facilities. The HSE's stance was mentioned whereby children are admitted for the least time possible. In CHO 9, for example, one child was admitted to an adult facility for 13 days and two children were in an adult facility for more than a week in 2021. In both cases, the reasons given by the HSE were that there were no beds available in CAMHS units at the time. When I looked at the beds that were filled during the same time as these children were admitted, there seemed to be capacity available in CHO 9. I am aware that is not the same CHO, but I am concerned that this could happen in CHO 7, an area in which this was not happening much previously.

It was mentioned that eight children had been in adult facilities this year. Were they in CHO 7? Are the two children currently in adult facilities also in CHO 7? What is being done to make sure this does not happen?