Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As I mentioned, this is not the story of one location, one doctor, one problem or one scandal. This has been going on for years now. The Tánaiste could be forgiven if he was just coming into office and he had an approach or a view on how to fix this but he has been in government for ten years. He has been at the Cabinet table as Minister for Health, Taoiseach and Tánaiste. He could have given the same script, speech or response three years ago when a psychiatrist resigned from the south east because it was unsafe and unsound in terms of CAMHS. We have issues with capacity and that is why children are being put into adult services. Children are being put into adult beds which are not fit for purpose. This has been condemned by the Ombudsman for Children but there is no action.

There is an issue in terms of the contract but the Government created a two-tier contract. Pay cuts were made that have not been reversed. Will the review include an examination of capacity issues? There are capacity issues in the south east, in the north west and right across the State. There are 3,065 children on CAMHS waiting lists. More than 800 of those children have been waiting for six months and over 300 of them have been waiting for a year. These are children with mental health problems that are not being supported by the State. Will there be any step change from Government in how we treat young people with mental health problems?

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