Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Ms Gallagher has covered a lot of issues I would have raised. I spoke about CAMHS at the first session. I can speak about my own area of Carlow-Kilkenny. There has been an astronomical rise in referral refusals across the regions and a staggering 54% of all referrals to CAMHS are refused in CHO5. What changes can be made here? Is Ms Gallagher hearing reports of what needs to be done? Does she have any solutions as someone who is very much aware of the issues at the moment? The most significant issue she spoke about is the fact that we have the worst CAMHS IT system in the world, which is unacceptable. Funding is funding but if we do not have a proper IT system for our young people attending CAMHS or families, the system is failing.

Far more families are coming to St. Clare's Hospitality Kitchen, which is a soup kitchen. They seem to be coming across the country and soup kitchens are being used more and more. Children are coming to kitchens with their families to be fed. This is of huge concern to me. Again, we need to look at action on child poverty. What do we do? All children going into primary school have free schoolbooks this year. This should be extended to secondary school.

I have one concern, which I raised previously. We have seen the largest changes in the school system regarding DEIS schools. I am sure Ms Gallagher is aware of this. Children in DEIS schools get breakfast or dinner but children in DEIS 2 schools get different meals compared to children in DEIS 1 schools. Is this another issue that needs to be looked at? Does Ms Gallagher feel the urgency from the Government regarding action on any of the recommendations from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child?