Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will start by being frank. I want to be nice, positive and upbeat but there is very little to be nice, positive or upbeat about. I am absolutely shocked and appalled by the mental health budget for 2018 and groups in the sector are shocked and appalled, as are the mental health warriors. Not only has the Government fallen way short of the mark, it is attempting to cover up the failings by announcing old moneys as new spend.

I ask the Minister to explain how this inadequate budget will help our children and our most vulnerable because we owe them an explanation. I sat in this Chamber for many hours as part of the Seanad Public Consultation Committee and listened to brave parents tell their stories about their utter dismay and heartbreak while trying to access mental health services for their children in distress. I tried to help those in my area of Dublin South-Central and, last week, another child was admitted to St. James's Hospital. This budget is a slap in the face for such people. In July, over the summer recess when preparatory work started for this budget, the staffing levels in CAMHS were at 53% of the recommended levels and 11 beds remained closed in an inpatient unit in Linn Dara in Cherry Orchard. There are suggestions that a Dublin hospital close down in its entirety because 40 staff are missing to cover its acute high-dependency beds. I am sure this is replicated elsewhere and perhaps the Minister can say what he knows of this situation.

In Waterford on Tuesday, two patients were admitted to plastic chairs in high-dependency units and a 16-year-old was admitted in August. This goes on and on and it is no wonder I cannot be nice, upbeat and positive. There are over 2,500 children on waiting lists but in this budget they are only worth a few pennies. It is an absolute disgrace and the strategic communications unit of the Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, seems to be getting more attention than mental health.

I ask the Minister of State to explain the budget to people on the waiting list, to their parents and to psychiatric nurses who are desperately trying to find a bed to calm the nerves of distraught parents. He should tell the young people who were given false hope that the Government might actually do something. I thought that, given the enormity of the problem, the Government would do something but €15 million is an insult, a slap in the face. I ask the Minister for a detailed breakdown of where the moneys are going but ask him to spare me the details of what the budget will do to keep things as they are. We need at least €65 million now, not promised for the future. There was €15 million last year and there is €15 million this year. What will it be in 2019? There is a promise of €40 million somewhere but I do not have any confidence in that and nor do the people out there looking for services.

Can the Minister explain the expenditure report from last year and the HSE service level report on CAMHS? Can he also explain how €15 million is going to help our children in distress?