Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Whitmore for her question. I met that same group yesterday and we had a really good collaboration. I also met with AsIAm representatives yesterday in relation to the challenges for children with a dual diagnosis of mental ill health and autism, which is becoming more prevalent. It is important to note that over the last couple of years there has been a 33% increase in referrals into CAMHS and the teams have dealt with 21% more young people. Last year alone, 225,000 appointments were issued through CAMHS. A huge amount of really good work is being done on the ground but unfortunately, CAMHS teams have taken a huge amount of criticism over the past year and a half. My job at the moment is to build confidence in the CAMHS teams. As Deputy Whitmore knows, we have made two significant changes. We now have a new clinical lead for CAMHS, Dr. Amanda Burke, and we also have, for the first time in the history of the State, a youth mental health office within the HSE. We are looking at all of the recommendations and many of them are in train. I will continue to work with the Mental Health Commission and all of the different stakeholders. We all want to reduce the waiting lists for these young people

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