Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

CAMHS is not suitable for children who need interventions due to learning difficulties, social issues, behavioural challenges or mild-to-moderate mental health problems. CAMHS is more for children with severe mental health difficulties. The Senator is right, in that they can also have diagnoses of autism. There are children accepted into CAMHS who have severe mental health difficulties as well as secondary diagnoses of autism. They could even have other diagnoses. In the main, though, CAMHS requires a primary diagnosis of a mental health difficulty. The challenge arises where there is a primary diagnosis of autism and a secondary diagnosis of mental health issues. In that situation, a child will not get accepted by a CAMHS team.