RTÉ will air an "RTÉ Investigates" programme titled "Inside the Care System" tonight at 9.35 p.m. I am highlighting it in the context of our debate on the Mental Health Bill last week and other areas of welfare. "RTÉ Investigates" spent the last year inside the family law court system documenting an unfolding crisis in the care of Ireland's most vulnerable children. It is described as heartbreaking, with the potential to cause lasting damage. In the documentary that will air tonight, we will hear directly from young people who have been through the care system in their own words. I also take this opportunity to thank the documentary's producer and director, Lydia Murphy.

Rarely does the public hear from young people who are experiencing a care system under increasing pressure, from staff shortages to mounting condemnation from the Judiciary over its failure to meet its lawful obligations to protect children in care in this State. A teenager who we will hear tonight will talk about how he spent months in an adolescent psychiatric unit. Senators will recall many of us discussed this issue last week. When he no longer needed the treatment he had to remain in the psychiatric unit because, as Tusla says, and this will be outlined tonight in the programme, they had no residential placement available for him. Controversial care homes known as special emergency arrangements, SEAs, mean that children are being placed in accommodation to facilitate them. These are provided by private operators, including rented apartments and houses, bed and breakfasts and hotels. However, these are unregulated and unregistered, private-run facilities that cannot be inspected by the regulatory authority. Remarkably, these SEAs are State-funded from Tusla's budget. It is a shocking indictment of a system that we have allowed go on in this State. I urge every Member of this House to tune in to "RTÉ Investigates" at 9.35 this evening.