Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I spent the recess meeting several different groups and organisations. For example, I will go through some of the national clinical programmes mentioned. I met with Lucena CAMHS, which deals with ADHD. I also met with ADHD Ireland and Families for Reform of CAMHS. They all cited issues with waiting lists for young people with ADHD accessing mental health supports. Nothing the Minister of State has said gives me confidence that will improve. There are still only three public inpatient beds for adults with eating disorders. The Minister of State said she would commit to improving that through her time in government but it has not improved. There have been improvements in other areas but there has been no improvement on those three beds.

As regards suicide, I refer to statistics relating to CAMHS. There are children waiting more than 100 days to be treated for suicidal ideation in various CHO areas. There are children waiting 190 days to be treated for deliberate self-harm and there are children waiting 60 days or more to be treated for suicidal intent. It has been proven that every €1 spent on early intervention saves the Government €17 but that area has not received the money it needs. I am seeking assurances that the Government will provide money to these national clinical programmes.

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