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

I thank the Minister of State for her answer. I am not surprised that it is more of a generic one. I am happy that Cork was mentioned in the answer because normally when one asks about a pen in this House, it is not in the answer. It does not mention any solutions. It mentions 168,000 young people under the age of 18 who are waiting for this or that. There does not seem to be a plan. The plan was to reduce waiting times to under 12 months. A total of 631 people in Cork have been waiting for more than 12 months. The Minister of State mentioned 69 CAMHS teams, four of which are staffed. We will not be having a premier league of 60 or 70 teams. We cannot set up a premier league because we do not have fully staffed teams. It is disgraceful. Regarding the difficulties in recruitment, if we paid the staff, we might get them and this generic answer is desperate.

In the brief time available to me, I will talk about what is happening. I want the Minister of State to get to grips with this. I got permission from a mother just before I came in here to tell the following story. It is about a 15 year old teenager who has been bullied, has been moved from school to school and has struggled to stay in St. Michael's unit in Cork. She has attempted suicide and cut all her hair off. Her father has stage 4 cancer, the family is being pushed from pillar to post and the Minister of State is telling us that there is a big push on in Cork and Kerry. The Minister of State heard Deputy Browne talk about how Wexford is falling apart, as is Tipperary. I am fed up with coming in here and talking. It is verbal diarrhoea. These people are struggling. The Minister of State should visit that family and see the hurt on the mother's face. The Minister of State should not come in here with generic answers because it is an insult to the people we are supposed to represent in this House.

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