Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also commend my colleague Deputy James Browne for bringing forward the Mental Health Parity Bill 2017 which aims to address the unequal treatment of mental health services by placing them at the centre of all key decisions taken by the Department of Health. I have addressed the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health services, Deputy Jim Daly, and his predecessor, Deputy Helen McEntee on numerous occasions on the issue of mental health. I must acknowledge that we now have an Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Future of Mental Health Care which is drilling down deep into the subject. The committee has been bringing in guest speakers who have been telling members about what is happening on the ground. In recent weeks representatives from Community Health Office, CHO, 2 , covering the Galway area, were before the committee and told members that there were 20 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, CAMHS, beds for nine counties. In the context of the Mental Health Parity Bill, that spells it out clearly for me. There are only 20 CAMHS beds to cover nine counties, which is in no way sufficient.

The aforementioned Oireachtas committee has also learned a lot about the great work certain groups are doing in their communities in supporting young people. We heard from the Galway branch of Youth Work Ireland, which is providing a youth counselling service. That service has helped 200 vulnerable children in sixth class in primary school through to third year in secondary school. They had issues in adjusting to secondary school. The counselling service is receiving referrals from Tusla and schools because they recognise the importance of early intervention. There are some very appropriate and easy ways for us to improve matters and there is some low hanging fruit of which we can take ownership, but mental health must be on a par with physical health and treated equally.

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