Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would like to raise the issue of child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, which Senator Joe O'Reilly brought up last week. The Inspector of Mental Health Services has said that she cannot currently provide an assurance to all parents in Ireland that their children can have access to a safe, effective and evidence-based mental health service. I agree with this assessment. Young teens from the age of 12 to 15 seem to be caught in this loop. They cannot quickly access services, whether it be Pieta House, SOSAD or within CAMHS. They have to seek private psychotherapy, so they are caught. There is phenomenon going on at the moment. Parents need to be aware of it. It is on TikTok. It is all over Snapchat. It involves teenagers and children as young as 12 years of age cutting themselves and inhaling various substances, including deodorants. Having had kids in care, I know that anything that can be inhaled to give a high, such as deodorants, glue or laughing gas, has to be locked away from children. Communities are seeing discarded laughing gas and helium canisters when picking up rubbish around their towns. Many teenagers - children as young as 12 - are inhaling these substances. We had a death a couple of weeks ago of a young girl in County Clare. Sarah Mescall lost her life because of inhaling deodorant. This is a real issue that is affecting teenagers. Parents really do not know what to do when something like this happens to them. They do not know where to reach out to for help. They call services and doctors. The doctors are at a loss as to what to do because they cannot get these children into CAMHS. It is getting harder and harder to access private psychotherapy. Community leaders are left to try to see how they can try to pick up the pieces for these parents. I am making an urgent call before any more lives are lost. Covid has had a detrimental effect on the mental health of our teenagers and younger children. We have not grappled with the problem and we have not tried to provide solutions for the affected parents and teenagers.