Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My apologies for being late. I was meeting the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly. I have a few observations for Dr. Muldoon. I read the report. The children and service users were very open and honest in it. I compliment everybody involved with it because we need to get the truth out. However, there appears to be a repetitive issue here. On primary care, the committee has called for the development of a realistic plan and timeframe for the provision of 24-7 services, but that is not happening. Like Dr. Muldoon, we have called for everyone to sit down together and take off their professional hats and put on their thinking caps. We call it an outside-the-box and common sense approach to CAMHS. We know the incidence of suicide is higher in certain geographical areas than in others. My view is that if there is a restriction when it comes to staffing, and there is a diabolical situation at present, we can surely pinpoint geographical areas and get them fully staffed and working there.

Ms Brennan spoke about the lack of services even when one gets into them. There was just option A and no B or C in terms of treatment for her child, such as talk therapy and so forth. That is down to staffing. There is one issue that always aggrieves me. Why can we not fill the teams we have in CAMHS? If we cannot, can we not consider the geographical basis whereby if there is greater urgency in CHO areas 2 and 5 we try to staff those fully first? That decreases the pressure in one area. I realise it could exacerbate it in others, but the numbers are not as high.

Turning to the Mental Health Commission, we raised staffing here last week. If we cannot get the recruitment process right in any part of the sections, we have lost. I submitted a parliamentary question last January and the reply was that the Mental Health Commission recruitment process has 22 stages before there is an appointment. That is a bad indictment of good resourcing or good thinking. I have a question for Mr. Saunders on the allocation of funds. There was an under-drawdown of nearly €9 million in 2005, €5.5 million in 2006 and €3.1 million in 2007, but all the budget was spent in 2008. From 2009 to 2014 the moneys that were not drawn down amount to approximately €12 million. Where does that money go? Does it go back into the system? Is it ring-fenced for something? It appears that across the entire area of mental health we cannot tie down a simple specific answer to a question, and when we cannot get answers we seem to go around in a revolving door all the time. I am very worried when we cannot get clarity on a matter.

With regard to the commission's powers and responsibilities, does it look over some of the Bills we produce? If we produce legislation is it part of the commission's remit to respond to it? One example is the Assisted Decision-Making Capacity Act. Does the Mental Health Commission look at that and agree or disagree with it?