Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to voice my serious concern in response to the data published by the child and adolescent psychiatry surveillance system. This is a surveillance system used in child and adolescent mental health services in the UK and Ireland. Today, we are told that up to 4,000 children and adolescents in this country between the ages of eight to 17 may be suffering from anorexia nervosa. It is clear from the figures that the problem is escalating. The figures have doubled since 2006. I have dealt with a number of families with a child suffering from this condition. I can only describe it as one of a parent's worst nightmares because there is a great feeling of helplessness on the part of the parent as he or she looks on at a child who will not and cannot eat and is damaging not just his or her mental health but his or her physical health in the process. Parents need assistance and support. The escalation of the problem is reflected in the increase in referrals to child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, provided by the HSE, where there has been a 40% increase in referrals since 2011. Unfortunately, staffing and resources are clearly an issue with only 57% of posts filled compared to the figure recommended by A Vision for Change. I know there is a particular problem with acute services. We sometimes see children admitted to hospital in a critical state and put in paediatric wards beside other ill children. They must be supervised. Getting counselling or dieticians is very difficult. Could we have a debate because this is clearly a societal problem? We hear glib comments about meat in the climate change debate. We must be far more responsible. We know there is a lot of pressure on young people with regard to their self-employment that they pick up from social media. I am not an expert in this field but I feel for the children and young people and their families, as can we all. We need a debate on attitudes to food, recognising symptoms earlier and correcting attitudes that are leading to this terrible condition to give some hope to people that they might learn that there is a way to break through and get over this condition. We must take this terrible affliction very seriously so that we do not lose young people who have their whole lives ahead of them to it.