Ms Margaret Brennan:

That is what is happening in the south east. Parents are in much worse situations than I am. There are parents whose children are suicidal. I know my child better than anybody else. I give him little concentration blocks and tasks at home which is costing me a fortune in Lego kits. That is the payment he likes. He gets rewards when he hits a target.

He is entitled to resource hours in school. As far as I can make out, the teacher has been on leave and there have been three substitutes for her, a situation which is not working. He has not improved as a result of the resource hours. It is down to me as his parent and I will do everything. If it costs me a fortune in Lego, that is fine. I will do everything to help my child as I have done for the others.

As regards teachers in schools, if one is interested one can opt into mental health care courses given by Professor Fiona McNicholas who provides them in teacher centres. Teachers have to opt in and get substitute cover. Those who are not interested do not opt in. I have been to one course and Professor McNicholas is absolutely brilliant. I met several secondary school teachers at the courses, some of whom are not trained counsellors but are taking on the role of counsellors in schools.

I would advise committee members to not be so quick to dismiss medication. It helps in a lot of cases. A doctor would not prescribe a medicine for a child if it was not needed. They are not that trigger happy with prescriptions. They will do what is needed at the time and start on a very low dose. I have never found a doctor who is prescription happy. They will do whatever the child needs. If he or she needs something for concentration, low mood or to calm him or her down, doctors will not give out medication willy-nilly.

I am at a loss. The CAMHS team will collapse without a specialist. We are not even in hospital, yet children with serious psychiatric problems are in a general hospital on a paediatric ward, where there are babies in cots. They are left there and parents are told staff cannot mind their children because they are not trained in psychiatric illness. On the two occasions I refer to nobody from the CAMHS team came to visit. I had to deal with the situation. I had to sleep on a chair or the floor and mind my child. That situation needs to be addressed. It happens quite often. As Deputy Browne said, children who need to be in a specialist unit are in wards with babies in cots for weeks. In University Hospital Waterford children are in a private room off an adult ward which is no bigger than a cupboard for weeks with no therapy and nothing to do all day. I cannot tell the committee what I have seen there.