Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have listened to what the Minister has said. I could go into detail, distilling the figures and examining how much was spent on agencies and how much was pre-committed in 2017. However, the reality is that parents listening to this interaction will not take any comfort from what the Minister has said. I know some of them personally, as I am sure the Minister does, too. They tell me that they phone the service on a weekly and sometimes daily basis, that they are in tears, pleading, demanding, asking and begging for their child to gain access to a service in order that he or she can have a diagnosis and receive wraparound supports he or she needs. They are telling healthcare professionals that they are worried about their child's mental health. They are worried because their child who is sometimes as young as eight, nine or ten years old is self-harming or could take more drastic action. We have heard these commitments given by the Government before. Last year the waiting lists grew longer. The number of children waiting to be seen has grown and the time they have to wait has lengthened. There is a failure in government. This is a microcosm of how the Government is failing to plan to fulfil the health needs of our society. Every single party represented in this House supports full implementation of A Vision for Change. It is included in the programme for Government. When will we be able to come into the House and say this objective will be realised? When will we be able say to the 2,700 children waiting and their parents that their mental health needs will be met by the State? This is not cherishing the children of the nation. It is cruelty and neglect of children and it is happening on the Minister's watch. The Government has been in office for eight years. It must take some, if not much, of the responsibility on its shoulders and act now.

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