Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Mental ill health can have a considerable impact on those who experience a mental disorder and can result in destructive and damaging relationships between the individual and their friends and families. Before Covid, the mental health services for young people were a major problem. Now they are beyond crisis point. Expert evidence shows that the onset of mental disorders peaks during the adolescent and early adult years and is one of the leading causes of disability among many young people.

Risk factors associated with the experience of mental ill health among young people include family difficulties, health issues, employment or relationship stresses and coming to terms with sexual orientation. Adolescents experiencing mental ill health can be a risk factor for mental ill health and substance misuse on reaching adulthood. This in turn can be an obstacle to employment and an associated increased risk of unemployment in the young adult.

Studies show that there are significant numbers of young people who are deliberately harming themselves and that many young people experience suicidal ideation. For some young people misusing alcohol and other substances can result in them developing mental disorders. Unfortunately, the services available to help people especially with dual diagnosis are virtually non-existent. Young people have no other option than to present to the accident and emergency department or to their doctor's surgery, neither of which is trained or equipped to deal with individuals who have such complex needs.

This is a terrible situation for a young person to find himself or herself in when looking for help. The importance of having that help available is proved by studies showing that young people who accessed mental health supports early were less likely to continue to experience mental health issues into adulthood.

For the services that do exist, age can be a barrier to accessing them, especially for under-16s. Early intervention is crucial and CHO 9, which includes Dublin North-West, the constituency I represent, has 289 young people on the CAMHS waiting list.

This situation needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency or we will fail a generation of adolescents and young people in urgent need mental health treatment.

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