Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I have just come from the launch of the report. We are aware of the issue. To answer on the issue of young people being admitted to adult services, sometimes the issues can be multifactorial and the reason for it can be down to geography or the particular age of the person, for example, somebody could be 18 and a half. While I am not defending the practice, I am simply saying that, in some circumstances, it is beyond our control. In other circumstances, it is not acceptable and we do not want to see it happening.

There is a protocol in place when a young person is admitted to an adult unit. The head of the HSE mental health service has to be notified, as does the Mental Health Commission, and there are very strict guidelines and protocols to protect the young person. Ultimately, it is a capacity issue in some cases. We will take possession of the Central Mental Hospital in Portrane towards the end of this year, probably in November, and it will hopefully be commissioned early next year. That will obviously help with capacity across the country because it will take some of the more acute cases. Therefore, we have improvements in capacity coming down the stream. We obviously have staffing challenges, of which the Deputy is aware, in some of the places where we have capacity.

We are aware of the challenge. The Department and the HSE are continuing to work towards ensuring that practice is kept to an absolute minimum.

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