Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

If there is information on that, I will ensure that the Senator receives it.

Senator Henry spoke about the respite grant. Thankfully, that is one of the areas for which I do not have responsibility, but I understand the Senator's position.

Senator Henry also spoke about people under 18 in adult wards. That came through in the contributions of most Senators. It is an issue we must be very conscious of, but, as I outlined in my speech, the majority of people who were inappropriately placed - I fully accept that they were inappropriately placed - were there for very short periods of time. Parents contact me from time to time at a local level and I go and see for myself the circumstances experienced by people who should be in an adolescent unit but who are in an adult unit. In my experience, and I have checked this out on several occasions, they are always cared for by a psychiatric nurse on a one-to-one basis and they always have an individual room, so there is no way that they would be sharing facilities or that there would be any great threat to the individual. I have seen that personally and have confirmed it by checking it out. That must be some kind of consolation to the parents of these children, because it must be distressing enough to have a child with mental health difficulties without adding to that distress by saying they are in some sort of danger. They are not. They are inappropriately placed, and that is completely accepted. I set the target of 5% in the service plan. The HSE wanted it to be higher and I refused and said that is what we will aim for and we will insist on it. I also asked the Mental Health Commission to ensure that if 87 children are inappropriately placed, we are also looking at how many appropriate beds are vacant in CAMHS units.From time to time beds which could be accessed are not being accessed. I have asked for that but it will take a while to come through the system. It is a relevant piece of information that we should be looking for.

Senator Gilroy talked about appointing a particular person. We cannot do that any more as the legislation provides that it must come through the Public Appointments Service. That is just as well because if we did not do that, no matter how well qualified a person might be in terms of mental health expertise, we would leave ourselves open to the accusation of jobs for the boys or the girls.