Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Rabbitte and Senator McFadden for their questions. The Minister of State has taken note of the questions relating to his portfolio. I will answer some of the others.

In terms of adolescents being admitted to adult facilities, as the Taoiseach did in the Dáil earlier, I acknowledge the Chairman's work on this matter. In fact, the Chairman may have discussed the matter with the Taoiseach. At least, that is what he told the Dáil earlier. I assure the Chairman that we are committed to working with her on the legislation she has brought forward to try to address this matter. I appreciate the constructive way in which we have engaged on this matter.

I am informed that 87% of adolescents are admitted to CAMHS facilities, which leaves a cohort who are not admitted. Without getting into too many illustrative examples, I think we all accept that there are sometimes very challenging emergency situations relating to children who are near adulthood but who are not yet adults. Children need to be cared for in a compassionate and sensitive way. We need to be careful, and I think this is the Chairman's ultimate concern, that these adolescents or children are not put in adult facilities and then left there on the basis that the box has been ticked and a place provided. Equally, we must be cognisant of the fact that the welfare of all of the others in a CAMHS facility must also be looked after. It is a very fragile balance.

I am informed that there is generally a ratio of two nurses to one adolescent in cases where adolescents are admitted to adult facilities. However, we need to do better. We need to find a way to develop a law, along the lines of the legislation brought forward by the Chairman, that makes the position clear in respect of those emergency cases and gives the system the ability to respond to them.

As the number of vacancies relating to CAMHS teams is an operational matter, I will ask the HSE to respond directly to the committee. I do not have that information at my fingertips.

Senator McFadden referred, quite bluntly, to a lack of accountability. A number of other members also referred to this matter. I was not around when the health boards were in place but I am sure some of the members of the committee were. It is clear that the health boards were imperfect. There is a need for a national health service and there is also a need to do things at a national level in order to drive improvements. The benefit of the health board model seems to have been that people met and asked trick questions of those who were responsible for delivering front-line services. For example, one would approach the Eastern Health Board and ask how the delivery of mental health services was going, what was the budget for the year, what projects had been delivered and why particular projects were delayed. What has happened now is that the structures have become so bureaucratic.