I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I take it the lads have simmered down now.

Grainne Gault is due to protest at the gates of the Dáil this afternoon. On St. Patrick's Day last year, Grainne lost her beautiful 14 year old daughter Elisha to suicide. In the wake of Elisha's death, Grainne and her family have been incredibly courageous. She and the group, Mental Health Warriors, have voiced their concerns about the state of mental health supports and provisions for children and adolescents. Ms Gault kept Elisha's Facebook page open as a place where distressed young people could come for help and support. Sadly, Elisha's story is not an isolated case. Many of our young people today struggle with mental health difficulties and, more generally, we also have a serious mental health crisis in our country. The rate of death by suicide is frightening. Over the last two years, 744 people died by suicide. That is 744 families such as the Gaults who now live with an unbearable loss every day. We need a unified approach and common purpose in mental health, right across the political spectrum. In that spirit, I must tell the Taoiseach that his Government is failing to deliver adequate mental health services. Despite all the talk and nice words, we are not seeing real improvements in services. While talking helps one's mental health and it is good and necessary to talk, it is the Government's responsibility to back that up with services.

The Government's failure is most evident in the child and adolescent mental health service, CAMHS, which is on its knees. It is crumbling while families and communities cry out for help, which the Government is not providing. Staffing shortages have led to CAMHS beds lying empty and children waiting months for mental healthcare. In August, 2,440 children were waiting for mental health services. Half of those children were waiting at least 12 weeks to be seen, while 748 were waiting six months. That is far too long to wait when a young person's health, and possibly life, hangs in the balance.

There is also a problem with children being admitted to adult mental health units. My colleague, Deputy Cullinane, highlighted the fact that eight children were admitted to adult facilities in 2018 in Waterford alone. Capacity is not matching the scale of need. The targets set in A Vision for Change in 2009 are not yet being met, over a decade later. In last week's budget, the Government announced a paltry and pathetic €14 million in new money for all mental health services. Providing a seven-day outpatient model for CAHMS would cost just over €3 million, which is almost a quarter of the Government's inadequate allocation of new money. The 2020 budget represented a real opportunity for the Government to do better on mental health services, which it could have seized. Having failed to do so, I ask the Taoiseach to seize that opportunity now and commit to delivering the necessary investment that families like the family of Elisha, whose mother Gráinne will be at the gates this afternoon, expect and deserve.

I am sorry to hear the story the Deputy recounted to the Chamber a few moments ago. On the wider issue, the Government has prioritised mental health and taken it very seriously in recent years. There has been a major increase in resources for mental health. Since 2012, the budget for mental health services has increased by 44%. I doubt one could find such a large increase in mental health funding in any seven-year period in Irish history. An additional €40 million for mental health was announced in the budget last week, which brings the mental health budget to over €1 billion for the first time.

Some 26 pay increases-----

That is a very significant investment in mental health services. We are seeing progress in some areas. The Deputy will be aware that the rate of suicide in Ireland has fallen by about 30% in recent years. Of course, any suicide is one too many, but we all welcome the fact that suicide rates in Ireland are dropping. It also reminds us that there is more to do. The Minister of State, Deputy Daly, who has responsibility for mental health, informed me last week that the CAMHS waiting list is down 25% and still falling. That is a very positive development, on which we need to build. We have also invested in improving psychological services in primary care, by hiring an additional 114 assistant psychologists, for example.

They are leaving their posts.

Last week, a 24-hour mental health helpline was established for the first time. People often do not know how to access the 1,000 or so different mental health services out of hours, whether in the evening, at night-time or on weekends. That helpline, which is based in the National Ambulance Service, is making a real difference.

The Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy McHugh, and the Minister of State with responsibility for higher education, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, made a significant move by investing money in health and well-being in education. Investment in mental well-being reduces the risk of people developing mental illnesses later on. Funding a mental health budget of over €1 billion, reducing suicide rates and waiting times for CAMHS, and investing in primary care are the kinds of significant things the Government is doing, although there is always more work to be done. We acknowledge that and will build on the progress made so far.

We are only going to get this right if we start from a factual position and if there is no delusion on anybody's part. The death of Elisha Gault, the child I mentioned, was not captured in the official statistics. She is not officially recorded as a death by suicide. Instead of claiming - I believe erroneously - that deaths by suicide are falling, the Taoiseach would be better served by looking at those real live statistics and understanding that they do not represent the full picture. The Taoiseach rattled off figures to me, citing a figure of €40 million. However, only €14 million of that is new money. That is a fact.

I am sure the Taoiseach understands that A Vision for Change from 2009 was one of those fairly rare occasions when people right across political and public life agreed that this is the plan and the way forward. Despite this, more than ten years later the plan has not been delivered. It has not been resourced and it has not been funded.

Here is the rub. The Taoiseach can bat this issue off with me today. However, families across the land, perhaps watching this exchange and listening to him as the Head of the Government, are in desperate situations. They have children and young people who are self-harming and who go missing.

Please, Deputy. The time is up.

They have children and young people in real distress. They cannot get the services they need. Despite the Taoiseach rattling figures at me, the reality on the ground is that the Government has failed to fund these services.

Deputy, the time is up.

I want to offer the Taoiseach the opportunity again to make a commitment to fund these services properly. This is not to satisfy me but to satisfy the needs of the communities and families who rely on them.

Again, I do not want to comment on individual cases when I do not have the detailed information about them. Next year, spending on mental health will increase by €39 million, bringing it to in excess of €1 billion for the first time. It is new money. It is €13 million for new developments.

It is €26 million for staff costs and €13 million for Portrane. These are lies.

It is €13 million for new developments and €26 million for pay increases and staff pay. That is new money. It is good that we pay our staff in mental health services more. That is how we can recruit and retain them. I am sorry that Sinn Féin seems to disregard the fact that we are providing money for more staff and to pay them more. We will not improve mental health services if we do not do that. I am disappointed that Sinn Féin is not supporting that policy.

The Deputy specifically asked about the CAMHS figures. I saw her shaking her head. The waiting list is down 20% this year. It is down from 2,517 last December to 2,000 in August. It is continuing to fall because of the structural reforms made by the Minister of State, Deputy Daly.

I want to make a sincere offer to Sinn Féin. If the party has a mental health policy drafted up, costed, thought through and seriously considered, the Government will be happy to engage with the party on it.