Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy McDonald for raising what is an extremely important issue. I share her view that more needs to be done and that we need to make much more progress. I thank the Deputy for raising the case of Maggie, in particular. Indeed, I would be very happy to make contact with Maggie's mother and engage in any way I can. I understand the Minister of State for mental health has met the group the Deputy referred to, Families for Reform of CAMHS. I am very happy to have ongoing engagement, as is the Minister of State, Deputy Butler.

For the benefit of people watching at home, I should state CAMHS provides a range of services to children and adolescents in need of mental health services. Evidence shows that around 2% of children and young people need the support of specialist CAMHS multidisciplinary teams. As detailed in the HSE's national service plan for this year, CAMHS expects to receive about 23,000 referrals over the course of the year.

I can point to true figures that show we have seen a very significant increase in mental health service funding year on year. Indeed, the mental health budget for 2024, of over €1.3 billion, entails a strong focus on investing in youth mental health, as is quite right and proper.

There are some encouraging signs although I accept we have much more to do in this space. There were 3,583 children on CAMHS waiting lists in April 2024. This number was far too high but it did represent a decrease of 778 compared with the previous year. There are some signs that, as we invest more, staff more and reform the services, we are seeing improvements in waiting times for CAMHS. The data also show that around 95% of urgent referrals to CAMHS in April were responded to within 72 hours. The severity of presenting symptoms, as well as the assessment of risk, is always taken into account in respect of waiting times, with every effort made to prioritise urgent cases so the referrals of young people with high-risk presentations are addressed as soon as possible.

There has been a significant increase in mental health staffing numbers, to which the Deputy referred. There was an increase of 476 in mental health service staffing numbers between December 2021 and December 2023. This year, 68 new posts have been allocated under budget 2024, and HSE child and youth mental health care will have over 130 new posts through the €10 million recently announced by the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health. My understanding is that the HSE is working to recruit for those vacancies as quickly as possible. I want people to know that there are funded posts currently that the HSE is endeavouring to fill. I assure the Deputy that it is not an issue of an embargo or recruitment pauses; there are funded posts that we are currently trying to fill.

More broadly, we now have a dedicated national office for child and youth mental health within the HSE. This development, delivered by the Minister, is very significant because it will provide the leadership, operational oversight and management of all the service delivery and improvement. I absolutely assure the Deputy that this is an issue on which I am very happy to work with her. I am very happy to do as she requests in terms of ensuring there is direct and ongoing engagement by the Government with Families for Reform of CAMHS. I will certainly follow the outcome of the report closely. We will continue to invest more, by way of budget and staff, in our mental health services.

On legislation, on which the Deputy has raised points, the new mental health Bill will be published shortly. It presents a genuine opportunity for us to work on a cross-party basis in the House to overhaul and update mental health legislation. I look forward to working with Deputies on all sides of the House on that.

The Taoiseach is right that the Minister met the families. That happened in October. It is now June, and there has been no progress from their perspective. They are very disappointed.

Every day that these children are on waiting lists or are denied services is damaging in the here and now and to their future prospects. With the greatest of respect, for the Taoiseach to tell me that a waiting list of 3,583 is an improvement on a previous scenario is no comfort at all. That is a deeply unacceptable situation.

I raised with the Taoiseach the issue of staffing and the embargo. He seemed to dismiss the staffing concern but as he knows, the Psychiatric Nurses Association of Ireland is balloting for strike action such is its concern about the staffing of services. It describes mental health services as being "at a critical tipping point" and has raised specific concerns about child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS. The Government has been slow with the legislative piece but I want to come back to the embargo, which needs to be lifted. Recruitment needs to happen unhindered and the CAMHS teams need to be filled if these children are to have any chance of getting the services they need.

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