Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I must apologise for my voice which has been affected by some dental work, but I will try to struggle through. I wish to raise the important issue of the new referral procedure for children in the north side of Dublin to the Mater child and adolescent mental health service. Mater CAMHS deals with the mental health needs of children aged from birth to 16 in Dublin North-Central. Sixteen and 17 year olds are also continuing to use the service. Dublin postcodes 1, 3 and parts of 7, 9, 11 and 6, Dublin North-West, Glasnevin and part of Cabra are also covered. The services provided are psychiatry, clinical psychology, social work, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, administration, registrars in child psychiatry, trainees and students in all disciplines.

The referral process is for children from birth to 16 years with persistent mental health problems such as emotional, behavioural, developmental and other psychiatric disorders. It also concerns problems that impact on functioning at home, in school or in relationships that have not been resolved by primary care level intervention, including the National Educational Psychological Service. We are talking about deliberate self-harm, suicidal thinking, depression, mood disorder, complex and severe anxiety, attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, significant emotional and behavioural difficulties, post-traumatic stress disorder, complex behavioural problems, conduct disorder, complex behavioural response, psychosis, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder and complex developmental problems.

Local school principals dealing with these very vulnerable children in an acutely disadvantaged area, which is the team A area in Dublin North-Central, are being told they can only get referrals to use the Mater CAMHS service through their local general practitioner. Children in Dublin 2 or 4 can therefore be referred by their local school principal, but children in Dublin 1 and 3 have to go through their GP. This is completely unfair, unwarranted and unnecessary. We are asking school principals to bring a parent and child to their local GP before they can make an essential and sometimes immediate intervention to save a child's mental health or potentially save a child's life.

People working within the service are saying this is completely unworkable. Why is a child in Dublin 1 being treated differently from a child in Dublin 2 or 4? The referral process should be uniform throughout the system. Will the Minister ensure principals in the team A area for Mater CAMHS will continue to be allowed to refer vulnerable children to this most important service?

See this speech in context