Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Every child deserves an opportunity to reach their full potential. The State ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992 and a child's right to the highest attainable standard of health, including mental health, is indivisible from other rights of the child. The Ombudsman for Children made that clear in 2018 in his report. He said that in the case of children and young people experiencing mental health difficulties, fulfilling this right means providing them with the mental health services they need, when they need them and where they need them. On that measurement or slat tomhais we are failing our children.

When we discuss this we need to put ourselves in the shoes of that young child, boy or girl who is sitting at home and for whatever reason feels there is nothing to live for anymore or whose anxiety paralyses them to the point that they cannot even step outside their front door. We could also put ourselves in the shoes of a family that has seen their young child blossom into a young teenager and that is struggling because they cannot support or help them and do not know how to help. We should imagine the torture of all of that but one of the other tortures is the fact that they know there is help but they cannot access it because CAMHS is not available to them. That is the reality for far too many children. Parents are sitting at home knowing their children potentially have suicidal tendencies but they are on waiting lists for months to see the specialist who may be able to work with that child and help them with their illness.

In Donegal, for example, we have 300 people on waiting lists and 100 of them have been waiting for over six months. Our waiting lists have gone up by 86% since this Government has come into place. We can have all the nice words and all the rest, and nobody in this Chamber does not want to protect those children I am talking about, but we have to recognise that the Government is failing spectacularly. One child being failed is one too many and the fact that we have lost children, as detailed in this report, is devastating, but so many individuals are lost because they are not able to get the services that can help them at the time they need them.

This needs to be fixed urgently. I commend Deputy Ward on the motion he has brought and the solutions he has advocated for. I would strongly urge the Government to take those on board. It is failing on this because the indicators are all going in the wrong direction. This is not about politics; it is about children who need help and that help is there. These teams need to be resourced, empowered and extended to 25-year-olds and I mention the issues Deputy Ward and our colleagues have raised in the past.

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