Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 7 March 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Future of Mental Health Care

Mental Health Services: Discussion (Resumed)

1:30 pm

Dr. Kieran Moore:

It is devastating. We do not treat children with any other illness in the same way as we treat children with a mental illness. They are illnesses, as members know. We are talking about severe bipolar disorders, schizophrenia and so on. If a child has any other illness such as asthma or diabetes, we will not put him or her into an adult hospital with 70 or 80 year olds. By the way, I mean no disrespect to such patients. However, we seem to think it is okay to do it for children with a different type of illness.