Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach and also the Leader, Senator Chambers, for coming today. It would be inconsistent if I did not raise the march last Saturday in Limerick of more than 11,000 people, and the concerns around the hospital. We will have the opportunity to discuss that situation during statements later in the week. However, I want to raise the issue of 140 children in community healthcare organisation, CHO, 3 in relation to the child and adolescent mental health service, CAMHS. The Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Butler, has done an awful lot to try to turn services around, but we need to go a lot further. My concern is that in the interim report CHO 3 was the worst area. I know the main report is not due until the end of the year but to find that 140 children's cases had not been followed up, that many of them had no appointments, that many of them were on medication for longer than they needed to be, and that some of them were left to wait in accident and emergency departments to see a psychiatrist is really not acceptable. While I know the majority of those children have been reached out to at this stage, it should not have come to this. It should not have come to the fact that the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, had to ask for the report and that this is how this situation came about. This involves 140 children, which is quite a large number of children. These children did not receive the services that their families were reliant on. I would like to have a further debate on the issue because it is not just an issue for CHO 3 but a larger issue also. Would the Leader ask the Minister of State to come to the House in the near future to debate this issue?