Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I will relay that information to Deputy Daly. Some of it might be new information, not least the reference to meetings she held last week. The Deputy made the point that the latest figures show 4,314 children are awaiting CAMHS appointments, 88% of them since the start of 2020. More than 600 of these children have been waiting for more than one year, with the majority in Cork and Kerry.

In general in respect of CAMHS, we need a properly staffed CAMHS team to address the waiting lists and ensure we will not face the same issues again. The crisis was fundamentally an issue of proper supervision and oversight, with a lack of adequate workforce planning at its heart. It is true of all CAMHS services that we want to see them work well, given we are talking about children and young people. What plan has been brought forward to resolve the issues and start the process of rebuilding trust with vulnerable children and service users? The Minister of State touched on some of this in her initial reply.

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