Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. We come across issues all the time when somebody ages out at 18 and transfers from child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, to general adult mental health supports. We know the services for eating disorders are not as robust for adults as they are for under-18s. We have seen a spike in eating disorders in the past two years, especially for young girls aged 13 to 15. The national implementation and monitoring committee is the oversight body for Sharing the Vision. A CAMHS subcommittee has been set up and it will look at the age groups and examine whether CAMHS should continue treating its service users until they are 21, 23 or 25. We know, for example, Jigsaw offers supports to people between the ages of 12 and 25. It is something we are keeping under review.

It will take a while. If inpatient supports are provided, it would not be feasible to have a 13-year-old or 14-year-old girl with an eating disorder on the same corridor as a young man of 21 with psychosis. We will have to look at many elements of this issue. We will address it under the mental health Bill I will be bringing to the Dáil next year.

See this speech in context