Sinn Féin Mental Health Spokesperson Mark Ward has criticised the government for not prioritising mental health care during its time in power.
With a general election weeks away, Ward noted that the CAMHS is still unregulated under the Mental Health Act 2001.
The Sinn Féin TD expressed frustration that his bill, which would regulate the service, would not be passed before the election.
The Dublin Mid-West TD said “this is a failure by a government who have paid lip service to reform of legislation for nearly 5 years.”
“The Mental Health Act 2001 is outdated, it has long been called for to be reformed and it seems like it was a false promise to do so in the Programme For Government over 4 years ago.”
He said that since then, the government has shown “no urgency” on the issue.
He noted that the pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill started in 2021 and was completed in 2022, with no movement since then.
“There are real life consequences to this not passing. CAMHS is still unregulated under the Mental Health Act 2001, and following the Maskey report and the Mental Health Commission’s review into CAMHS, the concern is that there still is no independent insight or regulation.”
“There are no guarantees to families and young people that issues highlighted in these reports will not happen again.”
“I introduced legislation that would regulate CAMHS but the Government kicked this down the road until the 28th of November, the day before a potential election, in favour of their own Bill which they have now confirmed will not pass in time. Their gamble with young people’s mental health has not paid off, and young people will lose out as a result.”
He says that the government should put politics aside, and regulate CAMHS before the election.
“Young people and their families cannot wait any longer for this to happen; if the government fails to do so, I am making a commitment that this will be prioritised by an incoming Sinn Féin Government, if we are given the chance to do so.”
“We have always been clear that mental health is a priority for the party. People deserve a government that does more than just promise, they deserve one that will take action.”