David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last week, we had a debate in this Chamber on the need for improved services for children with scoliosis and spina bifida. During the course of that debate and in the lead-up to it, I met many of their parents and the children themselves and heard many heartbreaking stories. Today, we are talking about young children and young adults who have mental health difficulties and challenges and whose parents are telling us of their experiences. They are, again, experiences of a lack of services, a lack of opportunities, long wait times and an overdependency on medication, with parents and children not being taken seriously, children with autism not getting the services they need, and their mental health difficulties not being taken seriously by healthcare professionals. We have had many crises in CAMHS, as the Ministers of State know, and we have many capacity problems. That is not, by the way, on the staff, who throughout the State, in my view, are giving an excellent service. We simply do not have the capacity, the referral pathways or the options for young people when they need them.

Far too many parents ring me about this at all hours of the night. I could give the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, examples from our constituency, and I am sure she has had similar calls, of young children who have ended up in emergency departments because there was nowhere else for them to go, or who have presented to CAMHS and been told to go home. This is happening time and again. There is a need for reform. The Mental Health Commission made 49 recommendations and, as my party colleague said, the very first recommendation was to regulate CAMHS. I cannot see how any Government can be opposed to regulating CAMHS or how it can kick the can down the road. The Minister of State is shaking her head and saying it is not, but it has not done it. It has been in power for nearly four years and is coming to the tail end of its term. It promised lots of things but this was one promise in respect of the reform of mental health services and it has not happened. The Mental Health Commission report sets out a crystal-clear recommendation and we are proposing legislation to make that happen.

I have met many of these young people and their parents over the days leading up to this debate. As Deputy Ward said, we met representatives of Families for Reform of CAMHS, ordinary parents who have come together to advocate for not just their children but all children and young adults, and what they are asking for is what we need to deliver. As in the case of the debate last week relating to scoliosis and spina bifida, I cannot understand why we are not listening to the very people who need reform and services. When parents are telling us that their children deserve better and that they are not getting access to the services they need, we are clearly failing them. Our track record when it comes to children's healthcare over recent years, under this Government, is not good. We are seeing that throughout children's health services.

We have published comprehensive reforms, not just in the context of this legislation, regarding how we want youth mental health care to work better. There are lots of solutions in all that and lots of areas that need improvement. We are not saying this legislation is in any way a panacea for all the challenges in CAMHS or in mental health care for adults either, right across the services, but it is a small and important step. When all the experts, the Mental Health Commission, advocacy groups and parents are telling us we need to do this, and a Bill that will actually do it is before the Government, that the response from the Government would be to kick the can down the road for nine months is absolutely unacceptable. It should have accepted the Bill, allowed it to go to Committee Stage and dealt with any concerns it might have about it, but actually deliver for those parents and children.

The Minister of State should look at the scorecard the Government got recently in regard to children's mental health services. It was an E, a fail, on her watch and on the Government's watch, and that is not something to be proud of. They need to do better, as we all do, and children certainly deserve better.

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