I want it on the record that while I may be critical of CAMHS, I am not being critical of the CAMHS staff.

I appreciate the pressure they are under at the moment with staffing, as the Minister of State has mentioned. At the moment, CHO 4, which includes south Kerry, is at 64% of what is recommended in A Vision for Change. I can understand the pressure they are working under. Will the scope of the review include Tusla? The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth found out some weeks ago that 20 children who were in the Maskey report were also under the care of Tusla. Will Tusla…

Most of it was in the CHO 9 area.

What are the Minister of State's views on a study by Maynooth University’s centre for mental health and community research that has led to calls for the implementation of a family focused approach to treatment in cases where paternal mental health illness has been identified? Does the Government have any plans to introduce a family focused approach to mental health treatment?

I thank the Minister of State. I am a graduate of Maynooth University so I welcome the report by the centre there. I have worked in community mental health services and always found the inclusion of family members, loved ones, or both had much more positive outcomes. That holistic approach always works. As the study said, when a parent has mental health difficulties it can typically affect the entire family. I use the analogy of throwing a stone into a lake and seeing how the ripples go outwards. Those mental healt…

The report also states, "there has been a growing recognition in most European countries of the need to support families in order to protect children, but Ireland lags well behind", so we are playing catch-up at this stage. One of the recommendations of the report is, "Increased collaboration between traditionally segregated adult and children’s services", for example, mental health services and schools. I met the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy two days ago. Association representatives have spo…

Yes. You did it to me last week.

The Palestinian Authority has described the murder of Shireen as an execution and it is difficult to argue with this conclusion. She was one of four journalists in a car, each clearly wearing a blue flak jacket and helmet identifying them as journalists. They were fired upon by Israeli forces without the slightest provocation. This attack is part of an ongoing attempt by the Israelis to obscure the truth and reality of its occupation of the Palestinian territories. This is a war crime and it should be investigated …

Over the weekend I received the devastating news from the Psychiatric Nurses Association, PNA, that 11 of the 23 CAMHS beds in Linn Dara have closed. I thank the association for informing me because it seems no effort was made by the Minister of State’s office to do so. When was she going to inform the public? Was she hoping that the closure of children’s mental health beds would simply go unnoticed? When did she find out there was a problem? What exactly has she done since finding out? This is not the first time b…

I will give the Minister of State some figures. More than 8,000 children are waiting on appointments for primary care psychology, 3,000 of whom have been waiting for more than a year. More than 4,000 children are waiting for CAMHS appointments, of whom more than 400 have been waiting more than a year. If these children get the service they need at an early age, they are less likely to need the more acute services that are provided by such services as Linn Dara when they get older. Does the Minister of State agree t…

I also want to speak about special educational needs. In recent days I have spoken with the Tallaght Parents Autism Support Group and the Clondalkin autism parents network. They asked me to raise the lack of autism spectrum disorder, ASD, secondary school places in the Dublin Mid-West constituency. Information they received from the National Council for Special Education indicates that there are 17 primary schools with 29 ASD classes in the constituency. There are 174 children in ASD primary school classes. We have…

I want to start off by talking about the legacy of mistrust in respect of religious orders having any connection with women's healthcare. I want to talk about the historical abuse suffered by women at the hands of religious orders. I also want to talk about the connection between church and State that led to this abuse of power. I am a member of the Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth that has been working through legislation on historical abuse, whether that was in the mother and bab…

I acknowledge the work of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and how successful it has been throughout this crisis. As the Minister will know, I am a member of the Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. Everything seems to fall under the remit of that committee. I have spoken in the past about the mental health challenges that displaced Ukrainian people will face when they land on our shores. Today, however, I will focus on the housing situatio…

The Minister also mentioned yesterday that he does not interrupt people when they speak. I would appreciate it if he would have the courtesy to not do so now. On Tuesday, representatives from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage told the joint committee that what the Minister said about such housing being used for Ukrainian refugees was not the case. There seem to be mixed messages coming from the Minister and his Department. This caused hurt and confusion among people languishing on the housing…

The rental system is in crisis. The average rent in my area now stands at more than €1,900 per month. Ordinary workers and families are being pushed to the pin of their collar. The increases in the cost of living have had a terrible impact on people in my community. This week, there have been increases in the price of electricity by 24% and of gas by a whopping 32%. The Government will say some of these increases are outside of its control and I agree, but how a government responds to the plight of its citizens is …

As much as I enjoy a debate with the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, of which we have had many, I am disappointed that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine is not present to take this important debate. Clondalkin Equine Club was opened in 2017. I attended the opening alongside Deputy Gino Kenny and it has been a really welcome addition to our community. It was born out of the need to facilitate a community tradition of urban horsemanship in an area of disadvantage. The club is like an oasis in the he…

I mentioned six different Departments. I do not want to oversimplify, but €60,000, €10,000 from each Department, would really work. We need to get these people around the table. At the moment Departments are working in silos. The left hand does not seem to know what the right hand is doing sometimes. I was asking the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to arrange such a meeting to get all the stakeholders around the one table and to see if there is any other funding in other Departments that could really …

Several people contacted me about increases in carbon tax on foot of this debate. These carbon budgets are not to be confused with the upcoming increases in carbon tax proposed by Government. Sinn Féin will oppose the increase carbon tax. It is out of touch with the increase in the cost of living, as was said by the Minister's colleague just before me, that ordinary workers and families must endure. The Government is still doing many things that increase emissions rather than reduce them. Data centres are still bei…

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on the women's health action plan. I also welcome the plan but it does not go far enough. I will focus my contribution on two areas; perinatal mental health services and eating disorders. Depression during pregnancy is prevalent and a specialist perinatal mental health service is needed. There is currently no mother and baby unit, North or South, on the island of Ireland. Mothers who need inpatient care are currently admitted to acute psychiatric units. A response to a parlia…

Last night, Sinn Féin brought forward a motion that aims to protect children with disabilities. The Government did not oppose this motion. This is a tactic that the Government has been using for a lot of Sinn Féin motions. It will not oppose but it also will not support simply because it does not want to publicly vote against services for children with disabilities. The recent High Court ruling found that the HSE was in breach of the law by not providing children with disabilities with a comprehensive assessment of…