Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I will deal with the Taoiseach's last point about resources. The budgetary provision for mental health services, as a proportion of the health budget, was 8.96% in 1997. The figure was 8.6% in 1998, 8.21% in 1999, 7.73% in 2000, 7.09% in 2001, 6.9% in 2002, 6.8% in 2003 and so on. The fact in black and white is that the proportion of the health budget spent on mental health services is declining.

The Taoiseach seems to think, having seen the programme, that it is all right to come in here and rhyme off statistics with no concept of the hurt that is felt by parents who cannot access services where they exist and who cannot get assessments where they do not exist. Having listened to the Taoiseach's reply, it seems that it is not only the Minister of State, Deputy Tim O'Malley, who is weary of this problem, the Taoiseach seems to be weary of it. If he admits to having watched the programme last night on tape and seen the plight of those parents, how can he come in here and defend it in terms of the millions the Government has spent?

There is not a Deputy on any side of this House who has not met some of these parents whose child manifests signs of psychiatric illness, suffers from Asperger's syndrome, may be autistic or suffers from a behavioural disorder, and have to wait up to four years and four months in this best of all possible worlds, with the most of all possible money, before they can even get an assessment.

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