Mary White (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. As Senator John Gilroy said, we have absolutely no doubt about her genuine commitment to her portfolio. However, the Minister for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar, and the Minister of State have a major job to do to live up to the 1916 Proclamation. I have said on numerous occasions that I do not regard Ireland as a true republic. In particular, in the area of children's mental health, it is more like a Third World country. I draw attention to the line in the Proclamation that we cherish all the children of the nation equally. The Minister of State knows as well as I do that if one has money and one's child has a mental health problem one can get fast access to services. I am surprised at times we do not have a revolution given the various inequalities in the country.

Children who do not have access to private medical care face unacceptably long waiting lists for mental health services, patchy service provision across the country and a lack of focus on early intervention that could prevent future problems. In a shocking violation of their human rights, children continue to be treated in adult inpatient mental health units. We have been talking about this issue since I became a Member in 2002. It is deplorable that children with psychiatric issues continue to be accommodated in adult units. I am deeply concerned at the continued delays in children accessing the mental health services they need. Our services are completely understaffed and overstretched. HSE figures show that at the end of last year there were more than 3,000 children and teenagers waiting to access mental health services in the community and more than 400 of these were waiting for more than a year. If this was highlighted on television about an African country we would not be surprised but in what we call a developed country, it is pathetic.

A new study by the children's mental health coalition shows that while demand for services is increasing, the number of staff in the area is falling. The report states that at the end of last year, community and mental health teams for children and teenagers have just 42% of the staff recommended in the much-lauded Government's mental health strategy, A Vision for Change. A Vision for Change is purely vision, nothing else. Children have a right to enjoy the highest possible standard of mental health but this right is not fully respected in this so-called Republic of Ireland. The shameful practice of admitting children to adult mental health units is also continuing.

Last year the Mental Health Commission reported that significant numbers of children with mental health problems continue to be admitted to adult psychiatric units despite repeated warnings that the practice should be a measure of last resort. Figures show that in the first half of 2014, 53 young people were admitted to inappropriate adult mental health units, representing one third of all acute admissions involving children or adolescents. This is totally unacceptable.

It must be remembered that a child's needs are very different from those of an adult. Mr. John Saunders, chairman of the Mental Health Commission, said we are talking about teenagers who find themselves in wards with much older people in environments that can feel threatening and fearful. They lack the kind of therapeutic input that is the norm in a child's setting. Alarmingly, if the numbers continue to rise at their current rate there will be a year on year increase over the 91 children admitted to adult units last year. The ongoing policy of admitting children to adult wards constitutes a human rights violation of the children involved. Up to one in four students at any given time experience psychological problems.

Fianna Fáil strategy includes proposals to improve supports in schools and colleges and reduce the alarmingly high rate of suicide among our young people.