Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Senator is dead right. It is as serious as it gets. What the Senator outlined is not acceptable in terms of the progress, which is why a number of initiatives across our multifaceted approach are being set up, including the ADHD team I mentioned, which will hopefully take 120 off the waiting list in a six-month period, as well as a number of different initiatives. I appreciate how frustrating an experience it is for families whose children are waiting to receive a service. I assure the House the Government remains committed to the development of all aspects of mental health services nationally, including those for children and young people. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, recently completed a series of three high-level round-table discussions, bringing together the Department of Health, the HSE and other key stakeholders across the youth mental health area to drive improvements in CAMHS, with a focus on executive leadership, clinical expertise and service provision. The Government is awaiting the outcomes of all audits under way on CAMHS nationally, including the final report of the independent review by the Mental Health Commission currently under way across all 73 CAMHS's teams nationally. This will help to inform any next steps necessary regarding CAMHS.

I take the Senator’s point on board. Good practice has made serious inroads into waiting lists. We need to take that good practice and make sure it is implemented in Cork and Kerry. I thank Senator Lombard for raising this very important issue today.