Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

-----so €100,000 for a child to come to a near-death experience, because she lost 7 kg when she was in the general hospital. Her organs were ready to fail. The girl's mother had to stay with her all day while her husband lay with a terminal cancer diagnosis. He has since passed away and his young child is still in that facility. She was on day release for his funeral. The damage we are causing, the lack of parental support at an early intervention stage is becoming a crisis. It is in crisis. It is becoming unworkable. The same CAMHS unit in Wexford is not taking referrals, which means its waiting list numbers do not appear. It is just refusing to take referrals. It is using the crossover between autism and mental health, whereas patients have both mental health issues and autism. We have a situation in Wexford where our CAMHS psychologist says "No, we do not accept the referral". Doctors are tearing their hair out, but the unfortunate individual patient or client or the child or teenager is just left in limbo. They have nowhere to go and the parents and families have no support. It is becoming mind-boggling. I asked the questions before Christmas because the HSE has got very significant funding in excess of €1 billion and nobody could tell me what was being allocated to parental supports by Tusla or the HSE at that time. I am asking now what portion of funding is being allocated to institute prevention as well as trying to provide a cure.