Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I formally second the Bill. I thank Senator Freeman and acknowledge input of the co-sponsors of the Bill, Senators Craughwell and Marie-Louise O'Donnell. I warmly welcome the new Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, and wish him well in his challenging post.

This issue has to be about the rights of children and putting children at the centre in terms of care. Ideally, no child should be in any form of residential psychiatric care. There is no question of children having to be in adult psychiatric services. Senator Freeman referred to the 2006 A Vision for Change document. That is now 11 years old and its executive summary set out that the Government would cease the practice of having children in adult psychiatric services. That was the policy back then. There is no doubt that current Ministers have consulted that document. Will the Minister of State say how many designated children's beds there are for psychiatric services? Will he explain why many of these beds are shut down during the summer months? Beds that had been up and running in approved centres for children with expert, specialist child care psychiatric services are going to be closed this summer on the Minister of State's watch unless he can do something tomorrow or the day after to stop them being decommissioned. Against what is meant to be Government policy or its objective is to keep children out of adult psychiatric services, but children will be forced into them unless something is done. We cannot have a situation where there are empty specialist beds for children in child psychiatric services but the excuse is that they are not available. They are available and must be funded and resourced. That is the job of the Minister of State or the Government and it is very important. Exceptional circumstances have been referenced. That can have many meanings. We cannot have a situation where there is bed capacity in the service but the Department of Health is going to close some of those beds for the summer. Is the Minister of State aware of that? He is new to his post but it is a very important issue. It is about prioritising things, allocating resources and putting facilities in place.

Senator Freeman has clearly set out the Bill. It is important. There may be other Stages on it. It might be helpful if the Minister of State could indicate if the Government will support this Bill. Clearly, it has made a decision. The Minister of State might be kind enough to share that decision with the House. Will the Government support this Bill or does it intend to oppose elements of it? It is an important Bill and we must always remember that it is about children and their safe and appropriate care leading to rehabilitation and ideally getting back to live with their families.