Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Regarding the amendments, what we have said and why we have tabled them is straightforward. I accept what the Minister of State said regarding amendment No. 206. The big thing is reiterating the point about codes of practice and guidelines and making sure that we have internal communications where they need to be. It is always frightening to hear the figures that Deputy Clarke spoke about. The Minister of State referred to the 4,500 on the waiting list and the 763 who have been waiting over a year. We are dealing with a huge number of families who are going to be under severe stress. There is complete logic to what Deputy Clarke says, in the sense that all information needs to be contained. We also accept that referrals will be made. Sometimes it is a different service that is required. It is about making sure that the information is widely available and also that we are all aware that a child approached CAMHS because that is where the referral was sent. That was not the service that was deemed to be required. At that stage, we are into the "no wrong door" and all the rest of it, even that single point of access that we have spoken about for a long time. However, we have all dealt with those issues in CAMHS. It is easy to say that this should have been done before and whatever else. If there are places that are operating with best practice, it is essential that the piece of work regarding what the Minister said about digging down into the weeds and doing due diligence is done as soon as possible. We need to find the means of transferring that, while ensuring that everyone who requires treatment is getting the appropriate and required treatment. Obviously, it is not much addition if someone is playing around with figures or whatever. I am not for a second saying that is the case but it is a matter of doing that piece of work as soon as possible and making sure we can deliver something that is a lot better. At this time we have too many people who have been failed. We all know the issue. The Minister of State spoke earlier about eating disorders. We all know that for parents of young people or adults who needed to get treatment for an eating disorder, it often took far too long. The treatment that was required ended up being a hell of a lot more acute and required emergency beds, sometimes not in this State. We really need to get that piece a lot better. We often talk about early interventions. We need to make sure that they happen. It is fit for purpose and we just need to get to that point as soon as possible. We cannot be operating with these long waiting lists because they serve nobody.

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