Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

Like everyone who read the report on CAMHS last week, I was shocked by the lack of care and badly needed reform provided by the Government for some of the most vulnerable children in this country. In common with everybody I have spoken to regarding this area, I am deeply worried about the Government's plans to address the crisis. These do not reflect the urgency of the situation and do not go nearly far enough to addressing the issue adequately.

Mental health is a real issue in Ireland. We need to put real resources in place to address it. We need a national director of mental health, who needs to report directly to the CEO of the HSE. There needs to be real accountability and oversight in the system. Brilliant work is being done in CAMHS and across our mental health services but staff are overworked and under-resourced. A national director is needed to implement that brilliant work across the service, develop a strategy that can be applied across that service, and be held directly responsible when things go wrong. The position of a youth mental health assistant director needs to be recruited for immediately. The money for it is there in the 2023 budget. The Government has committed to it and in the face of the CAMHS report there is no denying the urgency of this role. The situation cannot go on and we need the people in place to react to it straightaway.

The mental health (amendment) Bill needs to be prioritised by the Government. We need an immediate legislative response to this that is focused on filling the gaps in our current system and ensure a human rights-based approach for anyone using our mental health services. The current legislation is out of line with international human rights standards.

The response needs to be more ambitious than the Government's plans. We need a commitment to have no more children or adolescents in adult psychiatric beds. We need an expansion of the CAMHS system to those aged 25 and older to reflect that most people experience the onset of mental health issues before that age and to stop the cliff edge of services ending for young people at the age of 16. A more holistic approach to care based on strategy and implementation of a real multidisciplinary approach is also needed, as is the expansion of services to provide for the missing middle, who are not accepted by CAMHS but are too high risk for other services.

I support this motion tabled by Sinn Féin. There is a deep need across mental health services, especially in respect of children and adolescents. The reform needs to be broader and more ambitious than the Government's current approach and the services need proper investment, planning and oversight.

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