Ms Deirdre Archbold:

The provision of a child psychiatrist is key. I spent five years trying to get melatonin for my child. I spent five years sitting on the landing for five to six hours every night trying to get him to sleep. We were referred to a child psychiatrist. Unfortunately, she was overwhelmed and, prior to me getting an appointment, we were told that she was not taking any child with sleep issues. It was only in 2016 when my child was diagnosed with epilepsy that I managed to get a prescription for melatonin from his neurologist. As I mentioned, every second nurse and doctor in Crumlin hospital asked me whether I had heard of melatonin, given that he was not sleeping and a lack of sleep could bring on epileptic seizures.

We need a child psychiatrist. We have children in our group with mental health issues. Unfortunately, our psychologist is overwhelmed and is not trained to deal with the mental health issues that our children are facing. As far as I am aware, disability teams in the whole of Kildare do not have a child psychiatrist. That might have changed, although I do not believe it has from listening to our parents.