I will cast the Tánaiste's mind back to November 2012, when the people of this country voted in a referendum to amend the Constitution to provide for children's rights. She will remember from some of the rhetoric and Government spin at the time that children were to be front and centre in all public policy. Unfortunately, the actions of the Government in the meantime can be said to have been slack. It has cut the number of guidance counsellors, child benefit and core welfare benefits to under 25 year olds.

Will the Tánaiste acknowledge today's publication of a report into mental health services? Will she acknowledge some of its startling details about the welfare of children who have been waiting for longer than one year to access mental health services? As we speak, 3,000 vulnerable children are waiting, 400 of whom have been waiting for longer than one year. The report is startling and confirms what we have been telling the Government for some time, namely, it has shattered community mental health services for children. Only 42% of the staff complement that is required to protect the most vulnerable in society were in situ last year.

One third of vulnerable children who access mental health services are being admitted to adult wards. Will the Tánaiste provide a date by which the Government plans to cease this Dickensian action? Will she confirm whether best practice in terms of child welfare is being followed on those wards? The one third of admissions is due to the Government's policy.

This issue boils down to two questions. When will the Government cease the practice of admitting children to adult wards and is the Tánaiste satisfied that best practice in terms of child welfare guidelines is being followed? Before she answers now, I have submitted a parliamentary question on this matter. I want her to assure the people of this country that the children being admitted to adult wards have the comfort of best practice.

I thank the Deputy for raising the question. When he was on this side of the House, he often praised the Government for the priority it had given to children-----

Is that right?

Yes.

-----in the context of the very difficult situation that was inherited. I can remember him on many occasions commenting on how Fianna Fáil, his current party, had cruelly reduced the supports to families in relation to areas like child benefit.

I remember when the Tánaiste-----

Come on. The Tánaiste can do better than that.

Deputy Keaveney was very eloquent on that.

What happened to the Tánaiste? Tell us what the Government has not cut.

I suppose this is like those post offices that have been closed. There was no basis for that.

Any new baby can be put-----

Deputies, please. The Tánaiste has the floor.

Just to remind Deputy Keaveney in relation to his comment on child benefit-----

We remember the Tánaiste when she was in opposition.

This is a serious issue.

-----I was very happy to increase child benefit by €5 per month in this year's budget.

The Government promised not to cut it in the first place.

It was not as much as we would like-----

Tell us about the respite care grant.

The Government rolled right back on-----

-----but we have promised to do the same again next year. That was just in the context of Deputy Keaveney's opening comments.

Of course all mental health services are incredibly important, both to adults and specifically to children. I think it has been recognised and agreed by all parties in the House that the practice of children ending up in services intended for adults is not appropriate.

Give us a date.

The development of child and adolescent mental health services is a priority, and has been, for my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, and the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar.

Just to put it in context again, notwithstanding the severe financial difficulties that the country found itself in at the time of the last election and from 2008, an additional €125 million and some 1,150 posts have been provided for mental health services since 2012. The Deputy will also be aware that there has been an ambitious programme of investment in capital resources and improvements, including the opening of new mental health facilities and the opening at a local level right around the country and that people can see at the moment of large numbers of primary health care services. Central to the provision of the primary health care centres has been the actual provision at a local level of mental health services, including mental health services for children and adolescents. That, of course, is the setting in which we would like to see children and adolescents who experience mental health difficulties receiving the care, the counselling and the other services that their conditions may require. In fact, seeing children hospitalised would be, I think, for most professionals in the field the last resort and only in cases where it was possibly the only way of helping a child or an adolescent in very severe difficulties.

Hear, hear.

Speaking as the father of three children, the Tánaiste has become a cold-hearted technocrat. Her response was appalling. I simply asked her when the Government would cease the practice of admitting vulnerable children to adult wards. She will be aware of high-profile reports last week of inappropriate relationships between staff and service users. Will the Tánaiste give a date? Nothing else, not waffle. Let us pull the curtain back and examine what is happening on the ground. Please give me and the country the date by which the Government intends to stop the practice of admitting children to adult wards.

Can she guarantee the people present that best practice prevails with respect to child welfare on adult wards? Is she satisfied that there are child protection officers across adult wards where vulnerable children are admitted? Will she just deal with the two questions asked? She should not take a meandering road and talk about some time in the past. She has been in government for five years - deal with it.

The party opposite was represented here, too.

Just deal with the questions on vulnerable children. The Government botched the referendum.

It misspent the money allocated.

There is an opportunity to deal with the substantive question this morning. I ask for a date for when the Government will cease the admission of children to adult wards. Will the Tánaiste guarantee the welfare of children with respect to child protection? That is the key question.

I am not quite sure why the Deputy speaks about a botched referendum on children's rights.

The Government mishandled it. The Tánaiste should deal with the question.

I think I hear undertones of another conversation Fianna Fáil and others are having, but that is a different issue. The children's rights referendum was passed in an open vote by the citizens of the country. The party opposite may have a different view of it, but its members should respect the will of citizens.

We do.

Then they should not describe it in that way.

Can the Tánaiste give a date?

As we are four years in government, the Deputy was out by 20% on that point. As I recognise that he is the father of three children and interested in this issue, I will take his questions seriously. We have invested across the board in children and meeting their needs. The committee and groups which have come together on child and adolescent mental welfare issues have acknowledged the progress that has been made on a number of occasions, including in a report.

On its report card the Government gets a B minus.

The Deputy needs to read the report.

The Tánaiste needs to read it. The position is getting progressively worse.

The report recognises the progress made by the Government. I have read the report, whereas the Deputy has possibly only read the cover.

Is the Tánaiste going to give a date?

We will continue, as resources permit, to expand our investment in children and adolescents with mental health difficulties and to make primary care centres which are being rolled out around the country the primary location for dealing with children with mental health problems. The centres will be as close to home as possible and require no more inpatient treatment than is absolutely necessary. The best way to treat a child is to treat the child's family also in order that they can deal with the issues he or she faces. We are investing in an enormous range of additional facilities which are broadening the availability of resources for children. If the Deputy wanted to be honest, he would accept that the people working for organisations in this area have acknowledged it.

If the Tánaiste wanted to be honest, she would answer the question.