Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

Access to mental health services should be based on need, not on where you live and most certainly not on your ability to pay. Unfortunately, for many people across this State, that is not the case. I have no doubt that the Minister of State's office and that of the Ceann Comhairle are, like my own, inundated with people who are desperate to access mental health services, especially child and adolescent mental health services. In July 2020, there were 2,112 children waiting for first-time appointments with CAMHS. As of June 2025, there were 4,554 children waiting. The figure has more than doubled over the course of five years. This is why I was so surprised to read that there are only going to be ten CAMHS beds provided under the new budget when there were 20 last time. I do not understand. Perhaps we could get clarity on why there has been a reduction in CAMHS beds. Is this part of the legacy of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael? Is this what they want to be remembered for? Of those children waiting over a year to access services, 216 are in the HSE area that includes my own constituency of Cavan-Monaghan. A staggering 88 of those children have been waiting for more than 18 months. They continue to be utterly failed by this Government. Families are crying out for help from the Minister of State's Government and, in many cases, it is simply not arriving. There is no help and no support.

I only wish I was standing before this House today to welcome new investment announced as part of this week's budget but the truth is that we do not even know what the Government has done on mental health. Unfortunately, we do know what has not happened for mental health in this State. The Government did not even invest the time to meaningfully update the budget document. A copy-and-paste job was done for mental health. Just seven words were changed from last year's document. It is absolutely pathetic.

Sinn Féin proposed an additional €52 million a year for a revolutionary mental health action plan that would have overhauled child and youth mental health care, provided for free counselling for everybody on referral and made critical investments in vital programmes for eating disorders, dual-diagnosis, ADHD, crisis resolution, suicide prevention and urgent and emergency care. This is the type of investment and policy that could have made a real difference for those struggling with mental health. It is what the people deserve. I ask the Minister of State to make the change. She has the responsibility and she can make the change.

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