The case of Maggie, a-ten-year-old child in urgent need of mental health support, has not received the help she needs, despite the case being raised as far back as February, the Dáil has heard.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the vast majority of children in need of help have to wait around a year for the service provided by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
Ms McDonald told the Dáil these children and their families are crying out for help and she asked Taoiseach Simon Harris to lift the recruitment embargo in the health service.
The Taoiseach said more needs to be done in this area and far too many children are on CAMHS waiting lists, even if those lists have been reduced.
There has been an increase of 476 in mental health staff in the two-year period up to last December and the HSE was now trying to fill vacant posts, Mr Harris said.
Taoiseach welcomes Low Pay Commission report
Meanwhile, Mr Harris told the Dáil that he is proud of his party's support of workers' rights.
He said: "There'll be no rowing back in relation to workers' rights."
Welcoming the publication of the Low Pay Commission's report yesterday, he said that Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke will carry out an economic assessment of it and report back to Cabinet.
A decision on the recommendations would be made "around budget time," he added.
Mr Harris said that during the election campaign he spoke to owners of "cafes, restaurants, small shops, who have pointed out that the pace at which charges and costs are coming up has had a real impact".
"The Government does remain committed to the introduction of the living wage. So, this is just a question of balance and pace," he said.
He was responding to Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik who welcomed Mr Harris' committment to the living wage.
She noted that the Low Pay Commission report has recommended the abolition of subminimum wages for workers aged under 20.
"We all know that young workers have rent pay their living expenses. They're affected by hikes and the prices and the cost of living," she said.
Ms Bacik welcomed "the recommendation that a review mechanism should be built in to ensure that there are no unforeseen consequences" arising from the change which she urged be implemented.
"Workers rights dictate whether economic success is worthwhile," she said.
She said that an apparent slight shift in Fine Gael towards workers' rights have faded in recent months, and called on Mr Harris "to repudiate any rolling back of your party's commitment to workers rights".
Short-term lets
Mr Harris has told the Dáil that a register for short-term lets is "about puting a regulatory structure in place", and warned against the creation of "a bogey man" on this issue.
The Short Term Letting and Tourism Bill will be approved and published shortly, he said, and emphasised that the Government is committed to the needs of communities in tourist areas.
He said that there is a housing emergency, and that this issue must be taken in that context.
He dismissed as "nonsense" claims that the Government does not know rural Ireland, prompting outraged shouts from Rural Independent TDs, who accused him of "mocking".
Appealing for the deputies to resume their seats, leas Ceann Comhairle Catherine Connolly said that in four years she had never been ignored in this manner, and eventually order was restored.
Mr Harris was responding to rural Independent TD Michael Collins who said that AirBnB hosts are "hardworking local businesses" and "form the bedrock of visitor accommodation in rural and coastal areas".
"Their contribution to the success of the Wild Atlantic way is beyond question," he said.
Many are aged over 55 and depend on the income.
New regulations will mean that in some cases a host will need to register with the planning authority in order to get an exemption from a requirement for planning permission.
Mr Collins said that the Government "must immediately decouple the planning requirements from the new register".
