Dr. John Hillery:

I think I made this point at a committee last year in regard to children's mental health. There are people on waiting lists who should be dealt with by school psychologists. They probably have some form of reading problem or mathematical problem. They may have an intellectual disability of a mild level. They may have a variant of autism. What they need is an assessment and then to get the proper supports and that is not psychiatry.

Unfortunately, two things happen. They go on waiting lists to see psychiatry in order to get these assessments but they are left on the waiting lists. They are also increasing the length of the waiting lists but the other problem is that if a child who has an intellectual disability or educational support needs is put in a mainstream class and an assessment is not done, the child will eventually develop mental health problems, as any of us would if we were in an inappropriate place without the supports. Then the child will need to be seen by a psychiatrist but that should not be happening. That is at educational and other levels.