Ms Emer Deasy:

I will refer to one other stark and worrying statistic we have discovered in our work, which was not an awful shock. It is the level of private services being sought by families where they cannot access care through the State. They are on waiting lists for CAMHS, occupational therapy, OT, or whatever and they go privately. That sector is largely unregulated. Parents pay out money hand over fist for play therapy or counselling sessions but there is no regulation of that system, which forces families into poverty, of which Barnardos has evidence. Families are choosing to get their child his or her weekly therapy session rather than pay an ESB bill or buy a full grocery shop and that is really worrying.

There is another thing that is very worrying, and again a number of our members have experienced this first hand. They have not been able to access services in Ireland, their children are in crisis and they are watching them fall apart before their eyes. Parents will do everything for their kids. They will go overseas to seek help, and that is happening increasingly in this country. If you had another medical need you would probably access care in the North or the UK and it would be covered by the State. You might get to go overseas for other medical treatments you need. That option is not available to our children. What is happening, and we have a very worrying statistic coming forward, is that parents are paying for online assessments. They are meeting with the psychiatrists in other parts of Europe. They are travelling to those destinations and are coming back with prescriptions for very severe drugs but there is no medical oversight. We have had instances where parents have tried to contact those providers in those overseas jurisdictions after the event but were unable to access them or get through to them. The parents are now faced with figuring out how to renew a prescription or wean a child off a drug from which he or she is suffering very bad effects. This is happening and it is really worrying. Parents are going to serious lengths to look after their children and the State is failing them very badly.