Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would like to raise with the Tánaiste the growing concern on the delivery of mental health care provision, which is having a profound impact on some of our most vulnerable citizens, particularly young people. A recent report by the Inspectorate of Mental Health Services found that children and teenagers needing psychiatric care are being denied admission to facilities while beds within some of those facilities go unoccupied as a result of staff shortages. Depending on which report one reads, it is estimated that, at times, up to half of the beds in these facilities are not being utilised. This is at a time when there are growing waiting lists and waiting times for admission, in some cases of up to six months.

We have had cases where parents of vulnerable children are being asked to send their children from the Munster region to facilities in Dublin. In one such child and adolescent unit in Cork, for example, only 12 of the 20 beds available within that unit were being utilised last March. This was despite the fact that 15 people were waiting to be admitted on the day the inspectorate visited that unit. I am sure the Tánaiste will agree that is unacceptable. As recently as December, the mental health inspectors expressed concern over the welfare of a vulnerable child in the Cork area who was admitted to an adult psychiatric unit. They described the appalling situation where the child in question was left isolated in a bedroom, with no therapeutic intervention apart from medication.

What is being done to address the lack of psychiatric units for children and young people? What is being done to ensure child and adolescent psychiatric units have the necessary staff in place to allow the full utilisation of the beds available within those facilities?

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