Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Every time I am contacted by a constituent on a mental health issue, especially if it is their child, who is a minor, or young adult son or daughter, I feel their helplessness, their disbelief and pain, and, all too often, their panic because I know that by the time they come to me, they have been firing handballs against the haystack that is CAMHS as it operated by the Department of Health and the HSE.

It is my turn to start firing balls at the same haystack - the endless waiting lists, the lack of services and the overworked practitioners. When, in desperation, they reach an accident and emergency department, too often too little time is spent with them. When they can be treated, it is by a doctor who all too often knows little about how to deal with someone in a mental health crisis. That doctor just happened to be rostered for better or worse. It is my understanding that this is what happened in Kerry. Too often, somebody is filling a mental health role on a shift, although their sole experience of psychiatry might be a few weeks' on rotation. They are left to fill an administrative gap rather than fulfil a medical role, often without proper supervision. That is completely unacceptable, but we accept it. This is no way to treat people who are in crisis in body, mind and soul. It is no way to treat young doctors either, giving them responsibility for dealing with people in crisis without adequate training, expertise, support and supervision.

Despite all of this, there are wonderful people working in CAMHS who we need to support. They are people who are making all the difference to young lives, day in and day out, week in and week out. I met a family last weekend who feel they owe their child's life to the workers in CAMHS. Their outstanding work is one of the reasons we need reform and regulation of mental health services. We need these urgently, as outlined in the Private Members' Bill we brought forward on Tuesday. That Bill is down to the great work of my comrade, an Teachta Ward. The Government put a pause on it, and has done itself the luxury of pushing it down the road to a time when the Government that succeeds it will have to deal with the matter. I hope Deputy Ward will be the Minister dealing with it. Our Bill would have been of great use to children who have been left to fall through the cracks, especially those with a dual diagnosis. A mother emailed all TDs yesterday to tell us about her child of 14 who has not been to school for seven years. CAMHS will not see him because he has ASD with a pathological demand avoidance, PDA, profile. How is this acceptable in a supposed, albeit unfinished, republic? Where is that child's right to education and to mental health services? The Bill we brought forward would help children like that. It was designed for children like that.

Our Bill comes - and is needed - after damning reviews of CAMHS by the Mental Health Commission and in the Maskey report. As the Minister of State knows, the Mental Health Commission made 49 recommendations for the reform of CAMHS and to improve care services for children. The first of these recommendations was to regulate CAMHS under the Mental Health Act, which would give statutory powers to the Commission to oversee the implementation of their recommendations. This is what we proposed in our Bill, which the Government has pushed down the road. In north Kildare, the waiting list in this area rose from 131 in 2020 to 417 in August of last year. That is an increase of 286. It is the same Government neglect of children's needs that we see in respect of the lack of school places for children who are left struggling at home with inadequate home tuition.

The Government parties have had 100 years in office between them, and look where we are. It is really time for change - a change for the better for our children.

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