Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This month is mental health awareness month and we should all undertake to shine a light on mental health. Fianna Fáil's Mental Health (Amendment) Bill is going through its Final Stages today and I hope everyone in this House will support it.

I am concerned by the fact that the number of children waiting for CAMHS services continues to rise in this city. The latest figures, for March, show a further increase in the number on the CAMHS waiting list in the capital, from 156 at the end of 2017, to 164. We all talk about early intervention being the best way to improve outcomes for children but we see absolutely no action. It is incumbent on the Minister for Health to look at CAMHS services as children and adolescents are our future and we need to invest in them now. Early intervention is crucial. This also applies to waiting lists for speech therapy, occupational therapy and physiotherapy. The waiting lists are getting bigger and nobody seems to be getting any treatment.

My second issue relates to housing and, particularly, the rental market in Dublin. We have a peculiar situation here with tourists in residential accommodation and the homeless in hotels. In 2017, Dublin City Council spent €97.48 million on emergency accommodation, with some hotels in our city being paid over €1 million. We learn from a daft.iereport today that over half of rental properties in Dublin are listed on a short-term basis only. That means 53% of homes on the Dublin rental market are not available to long-term tenants. It is easy to remedy this. It has been brought to the Government's attention time and time again. The Government must put in place legislation to disincentivise this market behaviour. It has been highlighted before and it is time for the Government to take action.