Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

In fairness, 97% of all urgent referrals to CAMHS were responded to within three days up to April 2025, and they are the latest figures I have received. What often happens is children might present to CAMHS and whatever diagnosis they have may not be as severe as others and they become the long waiters. That is the area I am not happy about. The other thing is the consultant psychiatrist and clinicians in the multidisciplinary team determine whether the child meets the criteria. I do not have a clinician's background and cannot determine whether a child meets the criteria. Children must have a primary diagnosis of mental health to be accepted into CAMHS. Many children will also have a dual diagnosis. They may have mental health plus ASD or mental health plus an intellectual disability. Parents often come to me in my constituency office to say they cannot get into CAMHS or they are not accepted into CAMHS because the team has deemed the child has not met the criteria. One of the worries with that is it varies from team to team.

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