Judge slams 'woeful' mental health services on hearing plight of suicidal girl

The "completely substandard" options for a very disturbed suicidal girl who suffered “unspeakable" abuse in childhood is "a pen picture" of the “woeful” state of Ireland’s mental health services which unfolds weekly, "if not daily", before the courts, the president of the High Court has said.
The mother of the 17-year-old girl wept as Mr Justice Peter Kelly outlined the only option for her daughter is to remain in a busy A&E hospital unit until she gets a bed in an adult psychiatric unit after which it is hoped, within a few days, she will get into an adolescent psychiatric unit.