Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I wish the Ministers of State good luck in their roles in this important space. I will detail the experience of Damien. He has had schizophrenia for the past eight years and has been in hospital for a number of months in those years. In the past year, things have got worse for the family and they have gone to great lengths to get help. Their son is in the fields until 3 a.m., up to his eyes in muck and battling demons and devils. The family have found Damien eating his own excrement and vomiting. They tried to get him into a day hospital but he cannot cope in such a setting. They have been getting very little sleep. The mother had a stroke and the father is now on antidepressants. They are told nothing by doctors because Damien is an adult. They ask what medicine he gets or whether he has had his injections but are told absolutely nothing.

He was sectioned twice in the run-up to Christmas. Each time, his overnight admission was made voluntary so he could sign himself out. The family were very disappointed about that. On 3 February, he was again sectioned and brought into hospital but he was signed out when he assaulted somebody in the hospital. The family collected him from the Garda the next day and brought him for a walk in the grounds of Maynooth University, where he seriously assaulted a number of individuals, one of whom is still in hospital and may lose the sight in his eye. Damien is now in the medical wing of Cloverhill Prison. The family feel that not enough was done to help this situation and that much of this was preventable if they got the help they needed.

I also want to make reference to another individual who has been spoken about in this debate, namely, the young man who lost his life after entering a river in Galway. The series of events surrounding that particular night are incredibly concerning. We often hear stories of people who present themselves seeking help but do not get the help and, unfortunately, go on to commit suicide. We must get to grips with what is happening.

CAMHS are crumbling around the country. There is no doubt we are suffering from a lack of recruitment as a result of the lack of proper pay, terms and conditions. We must ask ourselves why there is such pressure on children in modern society. We must start to tackle the causes of the mental health issues in our society.

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