Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

I will speak on amendment No. 211 on child and youth mental health services. Sinn Féin's policy for a considerable amount of time has been to change CAMHS to a broader service and to increase the upper age limit to 25. This would be an important step if it were to be adopted. I note what the Minister of State said earlier about listening to the Opposition and working with us but I also note that no amendment has been accepted from the Opposition at this point. If the amendment were to be accepted, child and youth mental health services would have an upper age limit of 25. This would stop the practice whereby young people who receive very important treatments, and who are recovering well and perhaps have been engaging with CAMHS for a long period of time, age out of services as they enter adulthood. A child and youth mental health service would avoid this. It would allow treatment to continue into early adulthood as that young person finds other services or finds their way through recovery.

The other proposal we are making in amendment No. 211, that staffing levels have a legislative basis, would be very helpful to the Minister of State when it comes to budgets and making the argument internally within government on the budget allocation to mental health services. The Minister of State could point to a legislative basis for the staffing levels in the services. I ask the Minister of State to consider that this could be a help rather than a hindrance for her in her role. On this basis I ask her to consider accepting it.

The purpose of amendment No. 212 is to ensure that the complaints process is working, that it is available to people who need to make a complaint, and that it is robust and accessible to people who might be very vulnerable, to people who might find it challenging to advocate for themselves for myriad reasons, and to people whose families might find it quite difficult to advocate on their behalf. The Minister of State might consider accepting the amendment, which proposes that there be a report within the first 12 months.

See this speech in context