Geraldine Feeney (Fianna Fail)

Go raibh maith agat. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Moloney. I listened to his presentation in my office. He never fails to touch me. I am probably embarrassing him because he does not like bouquets being thrown to him for the way he handles his brief and conducts his ministry. I heard him say he took time out two years ago, equipped himself with what he calls his bible, A Vision for Change, read his brief and proceeded to go around the country. I have heard at first hand from units the Minister of State has visited throughout the country about the hands-on approach he takes. Not alone is he a hard worker but he has great empathy - I would use the word "sympathy" meaning sympathy in a positive way - for people who find themselves experiencing mental health issues. In my eight years in the Seanad I have been associated with the health brief over two terms. I take my hat off to the Minister of State because I have never worked with a Minister who has immersed himself or herself in a brief as much as Deputy Moloney has. I congratulate him and his staff. The Minister of State always tells me it is the good staff he has who make his job that little bit easier.

I draw attention to an article by Sara Burke in The Irish Times of Monday. We have discussed the national broadcaster and the media. The headline on this opinion and analysis article was "The €2 billion health cure that won't make us sick", and it was about the €1 billion in the health budget of 2010 that could give us more for less. It is not often we hear or talk about such ideas. Of that €1 billion two thirds of the projected saving was to be achieved by pay cuts and the remaining €400 million could be saved by deals done with pharmacists on prescriptions and contracts made with general practitioners and dentists. That article was well thought out and full of foresight. I congratulate all concerned because it proved such a saving could be achieved.

For the few minutes I have I shall concentrate on adolescent and child psychiatry, if the Minister of State will bear with me. Again, I turn to the media. I was very taken, as I always am, by Jamie Smyth, writing in The Irish Times. He might not always write the article I agree with or would defend in the House but, in fairness to him, he is a very balanced writer, particularly in matters relating to child psychiatry and the hospitalisation of children in adult psychiatric units. Last Monday, Jamie Smyth wrote about nine children who were hospitalised in the adult unit in Limerick Regional Hospital. I am sure the Minister of State is aware of this. An investigation is taking place led by Mr. Hugh Kane, chief executive officer of the Mental Health Commission. If a child presents as a danger to himself or herself, or to the community, we must keep that child in a safe place. There will be times when we have no option other than to hospitalise a young person in an adult unit. When this case is investigated I hope that will be the reason for so doing, even though it was inappropriate, and that the decision was not taken for other reasons.

Of those nine children a number were aged under 15 years; three being 14 and one 13 years of age. I was delighted to read - that is the balance found in writers such as Jamie Smyth - that Mr. Martin Rogan, the assistant national director of the HSE, spoke out to say it was not appropriate for children to be hospitalised in that way. The HSE is doing its level best and I am delighted that next month a new unit will open in Senator Ó Brolcháin's constituency which will provide further beds for children and adolescents. One hopes that will take care of the problem, which may be unique to Limerick. Perhaps social deprivation has a role to play in the reasons children are admitted to psychiatric units when there is nowhere else for them. One hopes Limerick will not experience that situation again because its neighbour in Galway will have a unit that will also include my area in the north west. By the end of the year there will be 52 dedicated beds for young people.

I was delighted to hear the Minister of State state that Grangegorman Hospital is now closed for referrals. Even as I say that name I feel the hair rising on the back of my head. I visited the hospital, as did the Minister of State, in our capacity as members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children. Blanchardstown Hospital will have a new unit up and running by February 2011 and Letterkenny General Hospital, just north of Sligo, is to have a new unit. There is progress and I know the Minister of State is doing his level best to ensure this moves on.

I have a matter to bring to the Minister of State's attention about which I will talk to him in private. I have a file that I will copy and give to him concerning a very sad case. Children as young as six and seven years of age are suffering from anorexia nervosa. I have raised this issue on a number of occasions; the Acting Chairman will know I am always calling for debates. I shall take the few seconds that remain to me to ask the Minister of State a question. There is a centre, the Marino Therapy Centre, but it is not in a psychiatric hospital setting. Conventional medicine and conventional psychiatrists might not have much faith in it but my file shows that several young people have been treated in this centre which has proved to be enormously successful. However, it has also proved enormously expensive, costing €2,000 per month for families who have a young person suffering from this condition. At any time that would be a vast amount of money but at this time it is unreasonable to ask anybody to pay even €200 per month, never mind €2,000. It appears that different regions of the country are prepared to fund this cost for families. Naturally, families in receipt of funding from the HSE are slow to divulge what they are receiving to people who are not getting the same kind of funding. One can understand that. I shall copy the file I have which concerns a very sad case and the Minister of State might see his way to talking to me about it.

When children find themselves in adult units self-imposed isolation comes into play. They are less motivated to interact with adults and do not enjoy the pastimes senior psychiatric patients do, playing bingo and suchlike. There is a need to consider a different way of treating young psychiatric patients - that is what the Marino Therapy Centre does. We should create a situation where children can have more access to outdoor facilities, whether with a care worker or a social worker, and can be monitored. Also, they could have access to computers and those types of things. I wish we had more time, but as I always tell the Minister of State, he is no stranger to this House and perhaps if we could do this once a month, things might move on. Instead of being critical of the media, as we have a right to be, we might create a base in this House for highlighting the problems.