James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State set out a wonderful theory of what is meant to happen in mental health services where one can go to a GP and be referred on to CAMHS. However, the waiting lists to see a psychiatrist, psychologist or dietician in CAMHS in some areas are so bad, the service may as well not exist. The Minister of State referred to Linn Dara. It was shut down for several months last year because of staffing problems. I read the new recommendations for the stepped model of care delivery. While it reads fantastically, where will the Government get the staff for it? The Minister of State spoke about providing more mental health teams when the majority are underpopulated, some significantly so.

Under the current model, there are 500 mental health nursing vacancies. From where will we fill those? Right now, 867 staff are eligible to retire and a further 885 will be eligible to retire within the next five years.

Plans and theories are great but, in practice, people are not getting the help they need with eating disorders. The rate of eating disorders is exploding. Practical solutions are needed.

See this speech in context