On a personal level, I congratulate the Minister of State on her appointment as Chief Whip. I welcome that the issue of mental health will have a seat at the Cabinet table but, to be honest, I do not have any confidence that things will improve. The past five years are evidence of that. In 2020, since the Minister of State took over the role, there has been an 81% increase in the number of young people who are waiting for a first-time appointment with CAMHS. She cited an increase in referrals to CAMHS, but it has t…

I take the opportunity to wish the Ceann Comhairle and the Minister of State all the best in their respective roles going forward. I wish them every success. We are discussing road safety today. One of the most efficient ways of reducing road accidents is to reduce the number of cars on the road but to do this you have to have an adequate, properly-funded and reliable public transport system in place. I have had many commuters in my area contact me about unreliable bus services in the area. The main culprits, and t…

There is only one mention of public health nurses in the whole programme for Government. Many parents have contacted me in recent weeks to say their children are not getting the vital developmental checks they need from public health nurses. When a baby is born, developmental checks are carried out at regular intervals. During the baby's first week, a public health nurse visits the home and typically checks the baby's weight and overall health. The public health nurse then carries out a developmental assessment whe…

That is the build-up.

There has been much public discourse about our political system. We saw it in the context of the low turnout in the general election. I recently met a group of young people who informed me there is a mistrust on the part of the electorate. They accused politicians of not sticking by their word and of talking out of both sides of their mouths. We have another example of this today with the Government not supporting the progression of the occupied territories Bill in its totality and not in its watered-down version, …

Concerns have been raised with me that vital developmental checks are not being carried out on newborn babies due to a lack of public health nurses. Parents from Clondalkin, Lucan, Newcastle, Rathcoole and Palmerstown have contacted me with these concerns. When a baby is born, developmental checks are carried out at regular intervals from birth and throughout their infancy. A public health nurse visits and typically checks the baby's weight and overall health. The public health nurse is expected to carry out a deve…

Seven hundred children were put in generic wards last year for mental health issues.

I do not know how many more engagements we will have from one side of the House to the other. On this World Mental Health Day I wish the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and her staff all the very best. I know we have had political differences over the years but I wish you all the best on World Mental Health Day. I want to thank everybody working in mental health services on World Mental Health Day, and particularly those in the community and the voluntary sectors for giving their time and their energy to people w…

I thank the Minister of State. I really appreciate that. As she knows, this is a vital, life-saving organisation. I often criticise Government policies so I want to spend a bit of time talking about some of the things Sinn Féin would do if it had a chance to be in government. We have produced a mental health action plan comprising several policy documents over the past while. The plan contains a number of commitments that would transform how we deliver mental health services across the country. It sets out an absol…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to regulate and licence the sale of nitrous oxide to exempted purchasers, to prohibit the sale of nitrous oxide and nitrous oxide products to a person who has not attained the age of 18 years, and to provide for related matters. I thank the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers for its assistance in preparing the Sale of Nitrous Oxide and Related Products Bill 2024, which I am introducing today with my colleague, Deputy Crowe. You only have to walk …

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

I move: That Dáil Éireann notes: - the wasteful spending of public funds by this Government; - the exposure of further waste of public money in recent weeks on a €336,000 bike shed and a €1,400,000 security hut; and - the cost overrun related to modular homes for Ukrainians, and the debacle of the new children's hospital becoming the most expensive in the world; condemns the further wasteful spending announced in Budget 2025 in respect of the allocation of €9,000,000 for phone pouches; further notes: - that, in her…

Much has been said during this debate about the ongoing waste of public money. I thank everybody who took part in the debate. I would like to get answers to a few questions. Does the Government think it is value for money to pay €9 million for mobile phone pouches? Was it value for money to pay €336,000 for a bike shed? Was it value for money to pay €440,000 for a modular home? Was it value for money to spend €1.4 million on a security hut? Was it value for money to have to spend €4.3 million as a result of not pay…

Its decision to propose this amendment today tells me that the Government is simply not listening. It is not listening to children who are languishing on mental health waiting lists. It is not listening to children who are waiting for assessments of need. The Government is not listening to children who cannot get special education places. It is not listening to children who are on waiting lists for speech and language therapy. It is not listening to parents who contact my office daily because their children are bei…

As Deputy Wynne noted, there are currently only three specialist inpatient beds for adult eating disorders in the State. As the Minister of State will know, eating disorders are one of the most fatal mental health problems people can have. Patients are being admitted into non-specialist wards, having their body mass index increased without specialist help and being released back into the community they came from, and this cycle is happening over and over again. If they are lucky, they will go back into that cycle, …

Will the Minister confirm that the inpatient dual diagnosis service will resume at the Keltoi treatment centre in St. Mary's Hospital, Phoenix Park? When will the residential service reopen?

I have been working on this issue since the service closed during the Covid crisis in 2020. We were told at the time by the now Taoiseach and then Minister for Health, Simon Harris, that it would be open as soon as the Covid crisis finished. I raised the matter again with the former Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton. I expected the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, to take this question today. Will the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, indicate who has responsibility for t…

Keltoi is a facility I know very well from my professional life before I came to this House. I know the important role it plays. I am still concerned about the funding coming from different Departments and the question of who is responsible. Where does the buck stop when it comes to reopening the residential service? The centre is back open as a day facility but the residential service is missing. In the reply to a parliamentary question of mine in April, I was told a capital submission for the project had been app…

This is my fifth time responding to a mental health budget. While the Minister of State can mention record budgets all she wants, people want results and I will talk about results. I am going to talk about the Government's legacy in mental health after five years. When it took office, 2,115 children were waiting for CAMHS appointments. Today that figure stands at 3,681, a 74% increase on the Minister of State's watch. Five years ago 223 children had been left languishing for over a year for a first-time appointment…

In 2020 we had a scandalous 9,689 children on waiting lists for primary care psychology. Fast forward to 2024 and we now have whopping 18,368 children waiting. This is the Minister's legacy. It is a legacy of heartbreak and children being denied every opportunity to reach their full potential. Sinn Féin has a plan to resolve this. We have an action plan for mental health. We have solutions to solve the problems that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have created in mental health.