Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

My question follows on neatly from Deputy McAuliffe's. The Children's Rights Alliance gave the worst mark to the Government on youth mental health. You look at the chronic understaffing of child and adolescent mental health services in terms of assessments to provision of therapies, and it is all down to a lack of staffing. Then we make it very difficult for people who want to, for example, qualify with masters or doctorates in psychology, or in other allied health professions, to get qualified when they want to work in this area, because they are crippled with fees that are astronomical. Their representatives, myself and others have asked time and again why we are making it difficult for people who want to work in mental health or in health generally. Why are we making it difficult for them to get qualified by hammering them with fees for masters and doctorates? Why are we failing to pay our student nurses when they are on placement? It makes no sense when we need more people qualified in these vital areas.

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