David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Again, I am duty-bound to point out that a scathing Mental Health Commission report on CAMHS made a lot of recommendations, some of which, I understand, will be implemented, whereas in the case of others, the Government is pushing back against them. The Government might have its reasons to push back against them, but we cannot push back against the dire need to invest in CAMHS services to give young people better opportunities. I accept some of what the Minister of State said about additional posts that have come on stream, but it is still far from where we need to be and key specialist posts throughout the State are not in place, which is having an impact. We all saw what happened in CAMHS in the south west, and in other areas over recent years there has been scandal after scandal and crisis after crisis. A lot of that is down to poor workforce planning. The Government and the Minister for Health waited until very late in the day to put an emphasis on workforce planning, and that, in my view, is part of the problem.

I reiterate that not properly funding CAMHS and other mental health services next year will have consequences for young people and their mental health.

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