Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The real No. 4 rises to speak. Page 66 of the programme for Government contains a commitment to conduct an evidence-based expert review of the current status of implementation of international best practice in mental health services in Ireland. The review will also advise on providing further capacity in child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS. Yesterday I was informed at the Committee on the Future of Mental Health Care that 70 children of schoolgoing age had taken their own lives last year. That number does not include children between the ages of 16 and 18 years who were not in school. CAMHS teams all over Ireland are severely understaffed. It is almost two years since that commitment was given in the programme for Government, but the chronic shortage of staff has not improved and the plan is not working. I ask the Minister to lift the embargo on the recruitment of front-line staff and do whatever is necessary to fully staff CAMHS teams.

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