Girl, 10, in 'full-blown mental health crisis' receiving no care, Sinn Féin leader tells Dáil
Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald said such stories 'are replicated in the thousands" and that 'children deserve better'. Picture:Gareth Chaney/Collins
A 10-year-old girl in a "full-blown mental health crisis" is receiving no care, the Dáil has been told.
Sinn Féin leader Mary McDonald told Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe during Leaders' Questions that she and two of her TDs — David Cullinane and Mark Ward — had met with families of children affected by a lack of places in the system and referenced one young girl named Maggie.
"One distraught mother told me about her 10-year old daughter, Maggie. She had already endured cancer and she now suffers with depression, anxiety, and self-injurious behaviour.
"Maggie was on the urgent list for one year before she received a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) meeting.
"She received an assessment for an intellectual disability but she was not accepted into the service because there is no specialist in the area.
"Maggie is in a full-blown mental health crisis. She receives no care. She is in distress and she does not leave the house apart from going to school."
Ms McDonald said stories such as Maggie's "are replicated in the thousands" and that "children deserve better".
In response, Mr Donohoe said that families had contacted his constituency office and those of his government colleagues, but said that work was being done in the area of child and adolescent mental health.
"The Government will continue to act to make available the resources to make a difference to those who need additional support and additional help in their lives," he said.
"It is the reason that in community Camhs teams we have seen an increase to 820 fully-funded posts.
"These are jobs that are funded by the Government throughout the length and breadth of our country to respond to Maggie and all the other young men and women who need the help that we, as a Government and an Oireachtas, want to give them.
"If I look at how this figure stands, it is an increase of 68 roles versus where we were last year."
He said that an additional €10m has been pledged by junior minister Mary Butler.
Later, a lack of capital spending in Waterford was slammed as creating a "Hunger Games" situation in Ireland by independent TD Matt Shanahan, referring to the dystopian novel and film series where a wealthy capital city dominates 13 poorer regions.
"An insanely out-of-touch capital acts as a parasite on the rest of the country," Mr Shanahan said.
"Provinces are divided and conquered. This year we will spend €13bn on publicly-funded capital projects.
"It is indeed projected that by the end of this decade, we will have spent €165bn.
"The south east is 8.9% of the population, and in the past decade has received less than 1% of all major capital spending.
"The region has turned away from Fine Gael because the educated view is that Fine Gael is not living up to its promises."
Mr Donohoe said that IDA-backed jobs in the region have risen by 25%, that the North Quays project is being supported and that investment at the South East Technological University was ongoing.
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