Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 30 November 2021
Joint Committee On Health
General Scheme of the Mental Health (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed)
Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I thank the witnesses for their statements today. Mental health care in Ireland is a very complex issue as it has been in the past and will be in the future. I have a number of questions. On mental health crises, the issue of children in adult units has been in the news in the past and probably will continue to be in the news. In the statement on mental health reform, it was said that 27 children have been admitted to nine adult units. What happens in these situations? Obviously, there is no suitable age-specific unit for that child, so where do they end up? How bad does it get for a child in a unit and in an environment that is not suitable for them? How bad does that kind of situation get as it evolves?