Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is accepted. A number of recommendations have come out of the meeting for the committee to follow up.

I also have an input to make. We have been talking about the service, and it is clearly broken. Having worked in the services, I am also conscious that staff are working in extremely difficult circumstances. It would be remiss of the committee were it not to thank all those people who are working within that difficult service day in and day out. The figures provided by our witnesses clearly highlight the fact that the service is broken. I have put this to senior staff within the mental health services, CAMHS and so on. There has not been a backlash to the effect that it is not broken in this area. It is clear that where we do not have key personnel, psychologists or leads for the various services in place, the system is broken and only partial service will be provided. Where a child is obliged to wait two years for an assessment and another two years to get the necessary services or support, then it is clear that the system is broken. We can look to regulations coming from Europe, but if those regulations relate to a system that is broken, it adds to the difficulties. It is stupid that we are trying to implement regulations in respect of services that are clearly not up to scratch.

I am conscious that there are families with more than one child who needs access to services. There is a physical and mental impact on those families. It is not uncommon for Members of the Houses to have families come to them and state that they went to psychologists and so on to get private assessments in respect of one child and that another child - and possibly another again - showed signs as well. That is a huge burden on the families involved. If people have wealth, they can get private assessments. If they are poor, however, they cannot go down that route. Automatically, there is a situation whereby people are going down different routes for services for their children.

We have not mentioned the courts. Members are conscious that many families end up going before the courts. This is another matter we need to talk about. We all accept that people do this out of desperation. Once they have got an assessment, people feel that supports should follow. That does not happen, however. Perhaps the witnesses could talk to us about those families in the context of the group's advocacy work. Has it worked for the families who have gone down that route? Are they still in that situation or does it help families to go down that route? What would be the witnesses' recommendation for families whose children have been waiting for years to get those services?