The Government has been urged to prioritise legislation to reform Ireland's mental health services so it is passed before a general election is called.
The Mental Health Act, which was approved by the Cabinet last month, would expand the powers of the Mental Health Commission to regulate all mental health services, including the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).
Mental Health Commission Chief Executive John Farrelly, speaking at the Youth Advocacy Programme conference where he launched a toolkit for young people going into inpatient care told RTÉ News: "We're not the Oireachtas, we're not the Government.
"We would just urge people to expedite the Mental Health Act, and it would be in the interest of our young people across Ireland."
At the same event, Children's Ombudsman Dr Niall Muldoon agreed, saying: "We would like to see it done before any election comes forward.
"But if it's not, it certainly should be a priority for the next whatever the next government is, because it's been waiting too long to review that. It's a hugely important piece of legislation."
He added that although there had been increased investment in CAMHS, this was coming from a very low base
Dr Muldoon said: "Our mental health budget in total for adults and children, is only 5.6% of the budget for health... the average across Europe is 10% to 12%, our children within that budget of 5.6% are only at one less than 1% of that budget.
"So we're really coming from a low base. So if you add 15 million to that, it's nothing. It's a drop in the ocean."
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
