Joan Freeman (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I know it is not easy and I must say fair play to him because every time there is a difficult situation, whether it is on television or here, the Minister of State never baulks from being present and I appreciate that.

I will remind the Minister of State that he and I went to the south east area, CHO5 in Wexford. We visited Slaney House and saw the conditions that day. In the following days, the Minister of State made a promise that the conditions in the house would change and that the staff would be helped. It is now eight months later, and nothing has happened. The Department wrote to us and to the staff in Slaney House and said that that a building was available but that they expected the staff to share a building with another organisation, which was most inappropriate because of the lack of confidentiality for children and parents.

I will not dwell on that and, instead, address the issues that the Minister of State raised. I am distressed that the Minister of State has been handed a script which not only glosses over the issues but once again contains misinformation and nonsense. Our committee can identify the nonsense and I will go through some of this now. His script contained a paragraph which referred to constructive criticism and asked for objectivity. I am sorry, but we are being objective. We are also talking about reality.

On the pending resignation of the three psychiatrists, the Minister of State said that everybody is exploring possibilities and the HSE will report back to him by 3 July. I would love to know what will be in that report and I can almost predict its contents. The Minister of State said there will be an extensive advertising campaign to replace the three psychiatrists. Does this refer to the sole advertisement in the Sunday Independenttwo weeks ago? Is that the extensive advertising campaign? The Minister of State said that he would get support from the Galway-based consultants. That is like asking the over-burdened CAMHS in Galway,which is coping well, to share the south east's workload. He is asking one or two consultant psychiatrists to travel to the south east and deal with the problems there. None of that makes sense.

Once again we were told of the allocation of an additional €200 million for mental health services since 2012. The day that we know how CAMHS is spending these millions, we will be able to tell the Minister of State that he is right, and that funding is terrific. Until that day comes, and we know the truth about how that is being spent, we cannot speak about the budget. Yesterday, we were told that more administration staff are employed than nurses. Dr. Kieran Moore said there are five managers managing four staff in the south east. How can departmental officials speak about their plans when they cannot even take into account what is happening in the south east and throughout the country? The south east is not unusual; this is happening everywhere. The reference to beds is waffle to satisfy anyone who does not know what mental health services are about.

The Minister of State mentioned 114 assistant psychologists and how 13 of those will be in Wexford and Waterford. How can they? There can be no teams unless a consultant psychiatrist leads them. They might as well twiddle their thumbs.

We were told about innovative digital technologies. Where are we with that? This country is well advanced technologically, with the exception of the HSE. I wonder whether this on purpose. Is that so that there is no accountability and the executive can use the excuse that it does not have the correct software?

The Minister of State referred to yet another working group to progress a national telephone, text and helpline and digital information. When children have an enduring illness, when they are in the middle of psychosis or when they are running down the streets or jumping out of a window, no helpline will work. How many millions of euro has the Department spent on putting helplines in place because they are safe and easy? What about the advertising tag line, "Let someone know", that the Department keeps talking about? Who in God’s name is the child or parent to "let know"? There is nobody around to help.

Today, I chaired the Joint Committee on Future of Mental Health.The representatives of the Mental Health Commission attended the meeting. I asked them who their boss was. They investigate the various child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, and so on but to whom do they report? They report to the Minister and the Department of Health. Is there not a conflict of interest there, given that the commission is funded by the Department of Health? Is everybody just minding one another and keeping everything secretive?

I ask the Minister of State to address the issues we originally examined last October. He should not believe what he is being fed and I cannot emphasise that enough.