Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I spoke to John, a constituent from Killaloe. His daughter, Livvy, is 11. She is autistic and has a moderate learning disability. At the start of this year, her behaviour took a downward spiral which saw her being suspended from school, attacking her father, his partner and her two brothers. Worse than that, she has recently started to say during these meltdowns that she wants to die. Livvy was seeing a psychiatrist in UHL, who has now left, and she has been waiting 18 months for a new appointment. When brought to child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, John was told that it is not the place for autistic children in Clare. There is no psychiatrist for children with disabilities in the entire mid-west. A Dublin-based locum, who is in the region every six weeks, cannot prioritise Livvy. If CAMHS is not the place for an autistic child who is experiencing suicidal ideation and suffers violent outbursts daily, where are they to go? Is it to accident and emergency at University Hospital Limerick, UHL? What is this family to do?

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