Mary Butler

The legislation has not been voted on, Ceann Comhairle.

I move: Tuesday’s business shall be: - Motion re Amendments to Standing Orders (any division claimed to be taken immediately) - Statute Law Revision Bill 2024 [Seanad] (Second Stage) (to adjourn after 2 hours and 30 mins) Tuesday's private members' business shall be the Motion re National Ambulance Service, selected by Sinn Féin. Wednesday's business shall be: - Statements post European Coun…

Agreed.

I move: That, until further notice in the 34th Dáil, and with effect from the week beginning Monday 31st March, 2025, the Standing Orders of Dáil Éireann relative to Public Business be amended as follows: (a) Standing Order 28: Constitution of the Business Committee In Standing Order 28, by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (2)(c): "(d) a representative of Other Members …

I move: Wednesday’s business shall be: - Motion re Ministerial Rota for Parliamentary Questions (without debate) - Statements on the Housing Commission Report (resumed) (not to exceed 2 hrs and 25 mins) Wednesday's private members' business shall be the Motion re Social Housing Tenant in-Situ Scheme, selected by Sinn Féin. Thursday's business shall be Statements on International Security and …

As the Deputy will be aware, eating disorders are complex, individualised and are and can be one of the most serious mental health illnesses anybody can go through. As Minister of State, I am firmly committed to improving services for eating disorders in Ireland. The national clinical programme was set up in 2018, and when it was set up it was envisaged there would be approximately 60 people who w…

Some of the Deputy's information is inaccurate. I have put a major focus on eating disorders. Just to be clear, no child under 18 has had to have treatment abroad since 2019. This is because we now have-----

Please let me answer. We now have the nasogastric tube feeding, which is available in the Eist Linn centre in Cork, in the Linn Dara unit and in Merlin Park. Unfortunately, this is a feature associated with an eating disorder, but we do have this provision. For the past six years, we have spent €1 million annually treating some very complex cases abroad. We also spend money every year on supportin…

Many people choose to use the treatment abroad scheme themselves. They actually choose to use it. We have to be fair. People do choose to use the treatment abroad scheme.

I am expecting-----

Does the Deputy want me to answer her question or does she want to heckle me? It is up to her.

I expect to receive a plan from the HSE regarding future eating disorder bed provision very shortly. Yesterday, I met Dr. Michelle Clifford, clinical lead, and Dr. Amir Niazi, national clinical adviser and, on Monday, I met Bernard Gloster, the CEO of the HSE, to discuss this specific issue. I have had four priorities since I was reappointed. I thank the Minister for my delegated functions this we…

I thank the Deputy for his question and for his clarification. Can I clarify the question number?

The question relates to the mental health intellectual disability teams, which are different from other teams because they are very small. There may be nine or ten people on an eating disorder or CAMHS multidisciplinary team, for example, but mental health intellectual disability teams can normally, believe it or not, be made up of just one person and some staff to support them. I am disappointed …

Did that child have an intellectual disability as well?

The Deputy is saying "There is no CAMHS service", but that is factually incorrect. There were 223,000 appointments last year for children-----

No, no. To be fair, there were 223,000 appointments for young people with CAMHS last year. Some people who are receiving the support of CAMHS can be in CAMHS for up to four years, for example, and can be seen on a two-weekly basis. I cannot comment on that individual case but we are investing €160 million this year in CAMHS. There are over 80 consultant psychiatrists working across CAMHS. I am no…

The Deputy should realise that the clinical lead position is funded and the HSE is currently trying to recruit into it. It is not the case that it is not being funded. The Deputy should not give the impression that we are just leaving one particular area of the country without any support because we are not.

I acknowledge the Deputy's role, and that of Deputy Lowry and other colleagues, in raising the issues regarding Jigsaw. We established Jigsaw in Thurles and a commitment was given to extend a kind of hub-and-spoke model. The mental health budget last year supported Jigsaw to the tune of €14.5 million. It has 70% physical coverage in the country but has 100% online coverage. It has also made some c…

I met the head of estates for Dublin south east which covers our particular area during the week on all things related to estates in that area. We discussed three primary care centres and Gorey was one, as well as another in Lismore in my area. It is going out to tender in the first quarter of this year. The Deputy is right about the model that is being used to do this. With the previous tender th…

I move: Tuesday's business shall be Statements on Policing and Community Safety (to adjourn after 2 hours). Tuesday's private members' business shall be the Motion re Guaranteeing Right to Education in Irish to All, selected by Sinn Féin. Wednesday's business shall be: - Statements on Policing and Community Safety (resumed) (not to exceed 1 hour and 32 minutes) - Statements on the Irish Langu…

As Minister of State with responsibility for mental health, I will respond. I met with members of SOSAD Ireland before the election, when they expressed their concerns about keeping the doors open. I acknowledged that the organisation does a huge amount of very good counselling work in the different regions Deputies represent. There has been constant engagement with SOSAD Ireland following the ele…

I accept the organisation has challenges.

It was already done.

Yes.