I refer to the ongoing crisis in child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, across the State. Everyone here knows parents and families who are struggling to access care for their children. We have all heard from staff acting on the front line who find that drastically inadequate staffing levels make it impossible to meet the demand for the care they want to provide. Figures provided by the HSE for my colleague, Teachta Louise O'Reilly, show that midway through the year the waiting list for CAMHS stood at more than 2,700 children and young adults. That is not the waiting list for treatment but for the very first step of initial assessment. Many young people have been waiting a year or more to be assessed. These are the young lives that are in limbo. There are families who are at their wit's end. The State is failing children.

In some parts of the State the waiting lists are absolutely shocking. In the area covered by community healthcare organisation, CHO, 1 which includes my constituency of Donegal there was a waiting list of 203 children at the end of last year. In the area covered by CHO 4 which includes counties Cork and Kerry there was a waiting list of 737 children for an initial assessment for mental health services. It is an absolute scandal. We cannot continue to allow these lists to grow and grow putting more children at risk. That is what it all boils down to. Children are at risk because the State is failing to make sure the care for which they are reaching can be provided.

CAMHS simply is not meeting the needs of young people who are often in desperate need of immediate care. It is primarily the result of a failure to recruit the staff needed to fully operate CAMHS teams. For some time about half the positions in CAMHS teams have been vacant across the State, yet when my party leader, Deputy McDonald, raised the issue of the recruitment and retention of nurses, including psychiatric nurses, the Taoiseach simply dismissed our concerns. An immediate response is needed, particularly in areas where the problem is at its worst. Earlier this year the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Future of Mental Health Care outlined a raft of measures to improve the recruitment and retention of vital staff. By filling vacancies quickly and improving conditions we can improve services, attract more staff and keep the excellent staff we already have. Let me state that when CAMHS is able to assess and care for young people, the service does an excellent job, with very good results. However, we cannot allow a situation to persist where if a child or a young person needs care, he or she faces an extended period of waiting that will put him or her and his or her mental health at serious risk. We need to see dedicated action to attract new staff and keep the excellent staff we already have. Promises were made by the Government last year that the disastrous staffing levels in CAMHS would be addressed, but they have not been. Will the Government recommit to doing so and ensure it will actually happen this time?

The answer to the Deputy's question is "Yes". We will ensure every effort is made to deal with the issue, which I acknowledge is a challenge. I acknowledge the importance of the issues raised by the Deputy. Improving all aspects of CAMHS nationally is a priority for the Government and the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, in particular. An additional €84 million will be provided for mental health services in 2019, which will bring the total available for mental health services to €1 billion, which represents an increase of 9%. That, however, is not the whole issue. I acknowledge what the Deputy has said about staffing and the recruitment challenges. I also acknowledge that there is a difficulty not only in recruitment but also in retention. That applies across the health system but particularly in the mental health service. Every effort is being made by the HSE to address the issue.

I note that primary care capacity has been further developed recently through the funding of a further 114 assistant psychologists and 20 senior psychologists. This will help to manage the demand for psychiatric services, but I acknowledge that it is more than just that. There is also an issue in meeting the demand for psychiatric and psychological services. The HSE and other agencies are working closely with appropriate recruitment agencies, not only in this jurisdiction but also on the international stage, to find suitable and appropriate consultant psychiatrists to deal with this issue. One the one hand, we have increased the resources and, on the other, it is important that every effort be made to attract a proper and adequate coterie of individuals to deal with what is a very serious problem across society.

I have listened to what the Minister has said. I could go into detail, distilling the figures and examining how much was spent on agencies and how much was pre-committed in 2017. However, the reality is that parents listening to this interaction will not take any comfort from what the Minister has said. I know some of them personally, as I am sure the Minister does, too. They tell me that they phone the service on a weekly and sometimes daily basis, that they are in tears, pleading, demanding, asking and begging for their child to gain access to a service in order that he or she can have a diagnosis and receive the wraparound supports he or she needs. They are telling healthcare professionals that they are worried about their child's mental health. They are worried because their child who is sometimes as young as eight, nine or ten years old is self-harming or could take more drastic action. We have heard these commitments given by the Government before. Last year the waiting lists grew longer. The number of children waiting to be seen has grown and the time they have to wait has lengthened. There is a failure in government. This is a microcosm of how the Government is failing to plan to fulfil the health needs of our society. Every single party represented in this House supports full implementation of A Vision for Change. It is included in the programme for Government. When will we be able to come into the House and say this objective will be realised? When will we be able say to the 2,700 children waiting and their parents that their mental health needs will be met by the State? This is not cherishing the children of the nation. It is cruelty and neglect of children and it is happening on the Minister's watch. The Government has been in office for eight years. It must take some, if not much, of the responsibility on its shoulders and act now.

Hear, hear.

Deputy Pearse Doherty is not the only one who engages with parents and constituents on this issue.

That is what he said.

I do so on a regular basis in my constituency engagements, as do all of my colleagues on this side of the House. I acknowledge the importance of the issues raised and a determination on the part of the Government to deal with the matter in a satisfactory way. I also acknowledge the dedicated and designated functions of the Minister of State with particular responsibility for this area, Deputy Jim Daly. I repeat that there has been an increase in total funding to the tune of almost €1 billion for mental health services next year. There is an additional allocation in excess of €50 million for new mental health service developments.

If the Deputy requires a drilling down into the figures, as he mentioned, I assure him that €35 million of this will be apportioned for new developments, while a further €20 million is for growth projects which commenced this year.

The focus for funding for next year will be on early intervention. Deputy Pearse Doherty is correct in this regard. The importance of early intervention is well known and accepted. A further focus will be on support services which will assist people in dealing with mental health challenges before they may require acute psychiatric care.

I acknowledge the challenge in respect of the recruitment and retention of staff. The Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, is taking an active approach and making every effort to address this matter. He is also in discussions with local managers of HSE regions to deal with the unacceptable level of waiting lists, an issue raised by Deputy Doherty.