Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to return to the Children's Rights Alliance report card, which was published today. It records that some progress has been made, but the Government gets a D grade for child homelessness and a very damning E grade for youth mental health.

The Children's Rights Alliance described serious failings in the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, including more than 140 children prescribed antipsychotic medications and then lost to follow-up, as “the tip of the iceberg”. As the Taoiseach knows, children continue to be placed in adult psychiatric units and waiting lists for CAMHS have nearly doubled on the watch of his Government. He has failed to invest in mental health services and his policy, Sharing the Vision, has no costs and no timeframe. When will we see a real, costed plan and when will he fully resource CAMHS so that children and young people can get access to the mental health services they need when they need them?

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