Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for her question. A decision to place any young person into an adult psychiatric unit is never taken lightly. We have four units in Ireland, namely, one in Merlin Park in Galway, two in Dublin and one in Cork, for the taking into care of children and young people under the age of 18. On 20 occasions last year a young person - in 90% of the cases the person involved was 17 years of age - had to be placed into an adult psychiatric unit for their own support. A decision to do this will only be taken on medical grounds by a consultant psychiatrist if they deem that this is the only appropriate place for a young child. The information I received over the past three months in respect of access to a child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, unit for children under the care of CAMHS indicates that only one or two children have been waiting for such access. We have also been utilising private care at St. Pat's and St. John of God's if our own capacity has been lacking.

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