Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We have all heard about the damning report on CAMHS that was published this morning. It is public now. The parents and children involved have known about this for much longer. As an elected Member from Kerry, I apologise to the families, the parents and the children. They did nothing wrong and everything right. They went to seek help and they did not get proper help. They were let down badly. We learned that 1,332 files were reviewed and that the treatment of 227 children was considered risky. These children suffered one or more of sleepiness, dulled feelings, slowed thinking, serious weight gain and distress. Significant harm was done to 46 children. These children experienced effects such as the production of breast milk, weight gain, being sleepy during the day and raised blood pressure. As boys and girls become men and women, they will always have little problems but pumping drugs into them is not the answer.

We need more workers. The HSE said it had no senior consultant child psychiatrist. We need psychologists at the start as well. There are good people in the HSE, but there are also some fairly useless people in there.

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