Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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136. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs his responsibilities in the area of child mental health; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7756/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures: the National Policy Framework for Children and Young People has as one of its five key outcomes that children and young people are active and healthy, including having good mental health. The sponsor for this outcome is the Department of Health, who lead an interdepartmental group as part of the implementation structures for the framework.

The remit for the development of policy relating to mental health and mental health promotion lies mainly with the Department of Health, and with the HSE as the main provider of mental health services for children and young people.

The HSE has responsibility for a wide range of other child and adult psychological services such as:

- Child and Adolescent Mental Health services including psychiatric and psychological services associated with the provision of specialist mental health services to children,

- adult psychological services other than services which relate to the effective functioning of families and the improvement of relationships between parents and children, including effective parenting,

- psychological services to a child in respect of a disability, and

- psychological assessments in accordance with section 8 of the Disability Act 2005 or with section 4 of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004.

Tusla, which reports to my Department, has responsibility for supporting children and young people across special care and high support settings, as well as the children's detention schools. Clinical Psychologists are employed by the Child and Family Agency in the Assessment, Consultation and Therapy Service (ACTS). They provide assessment and focused interventions for children and young people with complex clinical needs and high risk behaviours in the context of multidisciplinary teams. They also provide support to other professionals in order to guide interventions with children and families.

With regard to promoting mental good mental health, The National Youth Health Programme is a partnership operated by the National Youth Council of Ireland with the Youth Affairs Unit of my Department and the Health Promotion Unit of the HSE. The Programme aims to provide a broad-based, flexible health promotion/education support and training service, including making healthy choices in relation to mental health and alcohol and substance misuse, to youth organisations and to all those working with young people in the non-formal education setting.