Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to address the issue of our youth and the massive and insupportable increase in their anxiety levels. I am not sure what the reason is but the My World 2 survey, carried out by UCD in conjunction with Jigsaw, tried to build up a picture of our youth and their mental health and well-being. It recently conducted this survey of almost 20,000 young people between 12 and 25 years of age. Under 25 years of age is the peak time for the onset of mental health issues. This was the largest survey of its kind, and the number of people suffering from anxiety has doubled since the last survey in 2012. Some 22% report severe and very severe anxiety in the 12 to 19 age bracket, and 26% report the same in the 18 to 25 age bracket, with females most likely to suffer. All described being overwhelmed with fear and panic.

I would like the Minister of State to address two specific issues regarding services for our young people. There is a by-election in Wexford and the paucity of mental health services there is proving to be a key issue. They have had no child psychiatrists and no child psychologists for the past 18 months except on a Saturday, for which one needs to make an appointment, because all the other staff have resigned. The day services in Linn Dara closed last summer. I was promised, and I have a letter to prove it, that it would be opened in September or in October at the latest but lo and behold, there is not a peep or a word about it. All those places are lost to our young children. I would be grateful if the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, could come into the House to answer some questions.