Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

What actions will the Minister be taking with respect to the report, specifically on the issue of CAMHS? Will those who have the responsibility for children be committed to playing a full-time role in collaborating with the new agencies, especially in respect of the parenting of children in the care of the State? The report notes that the Child and Family Agency has been created, and we welcome that. However, there is a concern that the agency will not have the same reach in terms of its responsibility for services under the direct control of the HSE. The lack of control by the agency primarily relates to CAMHS. CAMHS does not come under the new Child and Family Agency, and neither does the public health nurse. However, we have a system with respect to the welfare of children in this country under a multidisciplinary, multi-agency environment and I have concerns, as has happened in the past, that children will fall through the cracks of the bureaucracy again.

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