Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I ask about the commitment in the programme for Government to improve "the uniformity, effectiveness and timeliness of support services to families and communities bereaved by suicide." Two weeks ago, UNICEF published a damning international report on child well-being, which revealed that the teenage suicide rate in this State is the fourth highest in the EU-OECD region. Professor Brendan Kelly of Trinity College told the Seanad Public Consultation Committee last week that it is almost impossible to get a hospital bed for a child or an adolescent struggling with mental health issues.

At the weekend it was reported that 44 children had been admitted to adult units in the first five months of this year, which is an increase on last year. My constituency has no child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, in the north Louth area. Community-based psychiatric services in Dundalk are practically non-existent, apart from Ladywell, which, despite the hard work of the staff there, is not fit for purpose.

Given the much talked-up summer economic statement today, will the Taoiseach commit to the provision of fully staffed and adequately funded mental health services? Will he ensure a significant increase in mental health funding in budget 2018?

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