Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I, along with many others, had one of those moments this morning when everything just stopped as I listened to the radio and heard Maurice O'Connell talking about his son Jason. It was heartbreaking to listen to. The raw honesty meant it was something that one just had to listen to. He spoke of how his son lost his personality and lost his smile. It was one of those moments when one had to not just stop and listen, but also digest. Collectively, we all have to digest what has happened here. Imagine being in the room when Jason's father and sister were told this news and Jason's first response was to ask if it meant he was going to die. We have to deal with this issue.

What really shook me when Maurice O'Connell was telling his story was that there was an implication in the report that this was not catastrophic. Sure, Jason did not lose a leg or an arm but I am sure the Tánaiste will agree that this is catastrophic for these children. We all have to accept that. To say the community in south Kerry is shocked, appalled and worried is an understatement. I know a little bit about that, as the Tánaiste is well aware, because I have a lot of extended family down there. Deputy Griffin, who is behind the Tánaiste, knows that as well. I have spoken to many people down there. In fact, I raised this issue in here a significant period of time ago. I am travelling down there later. There is deep shock at what has happened and concern as to whether people can trust the service.

The real issue, in the context of the audit that will be carried out, is that people who have the resources can go outside the public system and pay for second opinions but the majority of people cannot. In my experience, CAMHS has been very much impenetrable and lacking in scrutiny. There are some very good people in the service but there are silos in operation. This is not due to just one rogue operator but to systemic failure over many years for which we are all guilty, every one of us. We are going to have to deal with this in a certain way. The Tánaiste talked about the audit but we need to go further than that.

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