Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-16
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Pearse Doherty (SF), Donegal

The Government is closing down ten beds at St. Vincent's Hospital, Fairview, for children in mental health crisis at a time when so many of our young people are crying out help and left in awful situations. We are talking about children in some cases with severe depression, anxiety, self-harming, eating disorders and suicidal. It is real pain. It is real suffering here. Their poor parents are at their wits' end and sent from pillar to post desperately seeking services for their children and banging on doors of a broken system. Waiting lists continue to grow and grow. We only have 50 CAMHS beds right across the State. That is half of what is needed. The lives of children and young people in mental health crisis are on the line. Every single bed counts. We need more and now the Government is closing ten of them.
The head of the Psychiatric Nurses Association of Ireland calls this decision "inconceivable". I call it dangerous. It is dangerous for children who need urgent help. The Government cannot close these beds. These children need them and more.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-16