A constituent of mine, a 14 year old girl who I will refer to as Aoife, is languishing in South Tipperary General Hospital. This is her ninth week waiting for a bed in a special adolescent unit in Cork or anywhere. There are up to six cases like this, I believe, in South Tipperary General Hospital, not only blocking the beds but failing desperately. In early January, she was admitted to the paediatric ward and in early February was admitted again. She has been there ever since and has been on 24-hour watch for the past nine weeks. The long wait is taking its toll on her and, indeed, her family.

Nine weeks is a long time for a 14 year old, as the Taoiseach knows, especially when she is receiving little treatment to help her cope or understand her deep and profound sense of despair. The three-day programme that she attends gives her a little help but she needs individual targeted treatment.

Her family life is hugely affected. The mother has to sleep in the hospital with her as does the father sometimes, and the other children must be attended to as well. This is a crisis in Clonmel and Tipperary, where we do not have a single mental health bed.

Thank you.

I am going to pass on an email to the Taoiseach from the relevant person. I appeal to the Taoiseach, and to his sense of understanding and empathy, to try to do something for these people.

I am very sorry to hear about the experience of the woman that Deputy McGrath describes. Needless to say, I do not have any information on individual cases. For reasons of confidentiality and other matters it would not be appropriate for me to discuss them anyway, but if the Deputy wants to pass on the information to me I will make sure that it is passed on to the relevant authority.