James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy opposite for his comments on the additional resources made available by the Government for mental health issues. It is an area to which the Government is very committed. The Taoiseach is also very interested in it. More work remains to be done in terms of having more organisation around specific beds for the treatment of eating disorders. Currently, as Deputy Broughan outlined, there are a number of designated beds but other beds are also used for the treatment of such conditions.

Like Deputy Broughan, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Fitzgerald, and I are concerned about the changes that occurred vis-À-vis the law on the age of a child, which increased from 16 years to 18 years and the difficulties that created in terms of the provision of proper psychiatric and psychological services for children in that age group.

I am very concerned about regulation. The printed reply might have referred to the future but I am aware the change must be more urgent. There is a real need for GPs and community nurses in particular, and other professionals, to be confident they are referring individuals who need counselling, whether for an eating disorder or otherwise, to properly qualified and competent individuals. The regulation of counsellors and psychotherapists is very much on my agenda. As I outlined, we are currently organising issues around ancillary health professionals but I also want to address the issue of other therapists. I believe there is a real role for people in this area but there is a need to protect patients and ensure they are going, and the referring physician, nurse or clinician can have the confidence that he or she is referring, to a suitably qualified person.

I note the issue of education in this area. Certainly, that requires more co-operation between ourselves and the Department.

The other issue about websites and licensing is something I will discuss with the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, and we should raise that as well with the Ministers, Deputies Fitzgerald and Shatter, on a cross-departmental basis.

As Deputy Broughan pointed out, it is an area of real concern. It is a difficult area to treat for professionals. If intervention occurs early, the bulk of cases can be handled without admission to hospital, but there are occasions when that is required. Certainly, we will look into how we can better organise that facility in a more specialised way.

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