Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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170. To ask the Minister for Health if her Department has commissioned or plans to commission any specific studies assessing the long-term developmental, educational, and economic impacts of prolonged delays in accessing Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. [33168/25]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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My priority, and that of Government, is to ensure that children who need services can access them and access them on time. This is in line with our national mental health policy Sharing the Vision, our suicide reduction strategy Connecting for Life, and the HSE Annual Service Plan 2025.

Year-on-year funding for mental health services increased from €1.3 billion announced in Budget 2024 to almost €1.5 billion in 2025. This represents a 10.7% annual increase. CAMHS nationally receives approximately €167 million annually, with a further €110 million provided to NGOs, many of which focus on youth mental health. Under Budget 2025, an additional €2.9 million will support CAMHS to increase core staffing, develop a new CAMHS Emergency Liaison Service and expand CAMHS Hubs to improve crisis cover for services.

CAMHS is a secondary care specialist service for those aged up to 18 years, who have a moderate to severe mental health difficulty. Access to CAMHS is on the basis of prioritised clinical assessment, in line with the CAMHS Operational Guidelines which are available on the HSE website. All referrals to CAMHS are assessed by a multidisciplinary team. Approximately 2% of the population require support from this specialist service with over 90% of mental health needs requiring treatment in a primary care setting.

I established the National Office for Child and Youth Mental Health in the HSE to improve leadership and all aspects of care across youth mental health. The Office published its new Youth Mental Health Action Plan in February last. This ambitious plan for comprehensive reform across all youth mental health services, including the specialist CAMHS service, will deliver services which are safer, effective, easier to access and which offers appropriate support at all levels when needed.

The three-year Plan sets out a clear roadmap for the Department and HSE to ensure children and families have equitable and timely access to high-quality mental health care, including better links with Primary Care and Disability Services, and greater use of e-mental health responses. My aim is that services will be better connected and easier to navigate, with increased focus on the rights of young people and their families.

The development of a Single Point of Access for all child and youth mental health referrals in partnership with disabilities, primary care, and voluntary and statutory agencies is a key priority within the new Action Plan. This action will ensure children and young people will have improved access to timely, integrated and appropriate mental health services through streamlined referrals and simplified care pathways which will reduce waiting lists.

Engagement with all stakeholders working in and engaged with mental health services to understand their realities, concerns and future visions and hopes has, and will continue to be, a key influencer of the recommendations contained within the new HSE Child and Youth Mental Health Action Plan. This also has been reflected in the Whole of Government approach being undertaken through implementation of Sharing the Vision which involves, as appropriate, close collaboration with other relevant Departments and agencies. Extensive research and evaluation has gone into the development of our various policies and services for mental health and I remain firmly committed to this objective, as appropriate, in the future.

I recently commenced a series of visits to all HSE Regional Health Areas to meet with the Regional Executive Officers and their staff to focus on improvements to all aspects of Youth Mental Health care, to identify areas where increased activity is needed, and also areas of innovative and positive service delivery. This includes improving access and reducing CAMHS waiting lists particularly for those waiting over 12 months. I have stressed also, the importance of filling all approved posts for each CAMHS team to ensure the effective delivery of services.

In the context of the above, the Department of Health has not undertaken the type of proposal raised by the Deputy, nor are there any plans to do so in the foreseeable future.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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171. To ask the Minister for Health the independent evaluations or audits that have been conducted to verify that current mental health services for children comply with the State’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, particularly in light of ongoing waiting list challenges. [33169/25]

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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172. To ask the Minister for Health the formal mechanisms in place to monitor the adequacy and effectiveness of alternative mental health supports and services for children and families who are unable to access CAMHS in a timely manner. [33170/25]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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It is a priority for me, and indeed for Government, to ensure that children who need services can access them and access them on time. This is in line with our national mental health policy Sharing the Vision, our suicide reduction strategy Connecting for Life, and the HSE Annual Service Plan 2025.

Year-on-year funding for mental health services increased from €1.3 billion announced in Budget 2024 to almost €1.5 billion in 2025. This represents a 10.7% annual increase. CAMHS nationally receives approximately €167 million annually, with a further €110 million provided to NGOs, many of which focus on youth mental health.

I established the National Office for Child and Youth Mental Health in the HSE to improve leadership and all aspects of care across youth mental health. The Office published its new Youth Mental Health Action Plan in February last. This ambitious plan for comprehensive reform across all youth mental health services, including the specialist CAMHS service, will deliver services which are safer, effective, easier to access and which offers appropriate support at all levels when needed.

The three-year Plan sets out a clear roadmap for the Department and HSE to ensure children and families have equitable and timely access to high-quality mental health care, including better links with Primary Care and Disability Services, and greater use of e-mental health responses. My aim is that services will be better connected and easier to navigate, with increased focus on the rights of young people and their families. The development of a Single Point of Access for all child and youth mental health referrals in partnership with disabilities, primary care, and voluntary and statutory agencies is a key priority within the new Action Plan.

By way of background context, CAMHS is a secondary care specialist service for those aged up to 18 years, who have a moderate to severe mental health difficulty. Access to CAMHS is on the basis of prioritised clinical assessment, in line with the CAMHS Operational Guidelines which are available on the HSE website. All referrals to CAMHS are assessed by a multidisciplinary team. Approximately 2% of the population require support from this specialist service with over 90% of mental health needs requiring treatment in a primary care setting.

In terms of access to wider supports for children, while CAMHS is not suitable for children or adolescents where their difficulties are primarily related to learning problems, social problems, or behavioural problems, there are many other services available to assist these young people such as HSE Primary Care Services, HSE Disability Services, TUSLA, Jigsaw, and the National Educational Psychology Services (NEPS). Similarly, organisations that provide support/clinical interventions at primary care level for young people with mild to moderate mental health difficulties include Jigsaw (Online), My Mind, Turn2Me, and spunout.

The HSE website www.yourmentalhealth.ie also provides information on how to mind your mental health, support others, or to find a service in your area. On the site you can find a wide range of information provided by HSE-funded organisations, including self-help, counselling, helplines and online supports. You can also call the HSE Your Mental Health Information Line on freephone 1800 111 888 for information on mental health services in your area. The Information Line is open anytime, day or night. Additionally, 'Text About It' by spunout provides immediate support for people going through mental health difficulties - visit spunout.ie/text to begin a conversation.

Mental health difficulties are often described on a continuum of severity, ranging from mild to moderate to severe. To reflect this continuum there are tiers of mental health service provision. This ’stepped care approach’ as outlined in our national mental health policy Sharing the Vision aims to enable an individual to avail of a range of supports and services as close to home as possible, at the level of complexity that corresponds best to their needs and circumstances, across a continuum of mental health services. This means accessing the mental health supports that they need, in the community in the first instance, at the level most appropriate to their needs – this could range from counselling and talk therapies through to support from their community mental health team, or access to more specialist services, up to and including inpatient and residential supports.

I will continue to work closely with the HSE to ensure that all aspects of youth mental health care are improved over this year and beyond.