Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)

I appreciate the work that has been done by the Minister of State and the HSE in reducing the number of young people who have been admitted into adult psychiatric facilities under her tenure. It is acknowledged and it has worked but, as she knows, I always say that we should set the bar high. Let us aim for zero because that is what we should be aiming for. I am not questioning the Minister of State's bona fides in relation to the five people who were admitted last year. They had the consent of their parents and they were all 17 years of age, but that was not always the case. That is my concern. Because it was not always the case, it could happen again. We have had debates here previously on instances where young people were in adult facilities for weeks on end. That was very early in the Minister of State's tenure, but it was happening. I am not sure whether they all had the consent of their parents for being in there either. I am very disappointed that Deputy Clarke's amendment was ruled out of order for a money reason.

See this speech in context