Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)

I thank the witnesses. Their statements were very informative. In my previous role as a mental health spokesperson, we did a lot of work on trying to get the age for access to child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, up to the age of 23 for mental health services. In the general scheme, there are many references to trying to increase the age. When I was my party's mental health spokesperson, many of the arguments I used were in relation to how a child develops into an adult, how treatment can be unsuitable for young people once they turn 18 and how young people fall off a cliff edge once they turn 18. Many of these arguments were made by the witnesses. I do not mean to pick bones, but different ages were suggested by different witnesses. Can we see if we can get a general consensus on that? Dr. Marder stated that protection should be extended to young adults up to the age of 25. Ms McCormack recommended extending youth justice sanctions to people up to the age of 24. Dr. Forde mentioned extending the provisions in the Children Act to those aged 23. In a written submission, the Ombudsman for Children recommended extending access to the youth justice system to those aged 24. Is there a general consensus on the age that these could or should be extended to? What is the rationale behind that? Is there international best practice in this area?