Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Feighan, he is very kind and generous. I welcome the Minister of State.

Picking Senator Coghlan as Chair of the hearings into child mental health services was a no-brainer. I thank Senator Joan Freeman and everyone on that committee. It was both harrowing and enjoyable. I also thank the parents and the young adults who allowed us into their lives, and their trauma, in public in the Seanad. Senator Freeman and I also met a number of people privately, who had been unable or unwilling to go into the public eye which can be horrific, especially when sharing stories of access, or lack thereof, to our child and adolescent mental health services.

Equality of access emerged as a major point, as well as waiting lists and continuity of care. People who were lucky enough to get to speak to a professional kept having to tell their story to a different person time and again. That goes against the formation of any therapeutic relationship. It is not a broken leg, but a broken heart, mind, soul or spirit of children and adults in mental distress. Medication policy was another major factor.

Senator Boyhan referred to time. People are losing their time of childhood. Most of us here were lucky enough to have stability in our lives and were allowed to be children, to grow, mature, make mistakes, whether emotional or intellectually, and grow up. That makes us the adults we are. Our children in mental distress do not have that. They are frozen in time because by the time they reach adulthood, if things are not addressed early, we will have condemned them for life. I do not say that lightly but we need that early intervention, the immediate, rapid response to allow our children to experience childhood. That is what is not happening.

The recommendations are there for all to see. One recommendation is to allow experienced nurses to do clinical assessments.Another is that for those with intellectual disabilities, the referral criteria for child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, should be expanded. We could talk about recruitment but it comes down to a chaotic working environment. Many staff have left and new people are not being attracted into the service. The report on public service pay will be published at the end of June but this is a priority and it needs to happen now.

As for Senator Freeman's Mental Health (Amendment) Bill, will the Minister of State speed up the passage of that Bill? Can he find time soon to allow Report and Final Stages be taken? It would be one measure to prevent children in adult psychiatric hospitals suffering trauma. They are not being allowed to heal from the trauma they witness in psychiatric hospitals. Will he provide time for the taking of Report and Final Stages to allow us do something about that prior to summer?