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

We are focusing on the rising number of vacancies within the mental health service. I visited the Linn Dara unit during the summer. There have been problems there and also in the Cork child and adolescent mental health service, CAMHS, where services were either closed temporarily over the summer or have refused new referrals. Also, the ACCES homeless mental health service in Dublin is not taking any more referrals.

The Government claimed on budget day that €84 million was being added to the mental health budget, but that turned out to be only €35 million in terms of new money, which is €20 million short of the €55 million that the Government promised. More than 37,000 children are waiting for their first assessment.

How many children are waiting, after their initial assessment, to go into one of the services, whether a disability or mental health service?

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