Around 50 children and adolescents aged 14 and under attend the accident and emergency department of Dublin's Temple Street Children's Hospital each year exhibiting suicidal behaviour, an Oireachtas health subcommittee heard yesterday.
But as many as 10 "high-risk" young people in need of further in-patient treatment are left sitting with sick children in ordinary wards at the hospital despite the fact they are not physically sick themselves. This is because there are few, if any, specialised psychiatric care places available to treat them.
Prof Carol Fitzpatrick, child and adolescent psychiatrist at Temple Street and the Mater, told the sub-committee a further 20 to 30 suicidal people aged 14-15 turn up at the Mater's A&E department each year.
Approximately five or six of those deemed at high risk are forced to sit in ordinary wards each year, and are denied the specialised treatment they require.
As a result, it is only a matter of time before a suicidal young person leaves or is discharged and subsequently dies because no appropriate place can be found, Prof Fitzpatrick warned.
While this would undoubtedly lead to an inquiry and a set of recommendations, it would be too late for that person.
In the past 10 years alone 34 children under 15 have committed suicide.
Warrenstown House, the only public inpatient psychiatric treatment facility for children in Dublin, provides no emergency service and operates only from Monday to Friday.
"Within each health board area there should be access to an inpatient treatment unit for young people," Prof Fitzpatrick said. There should also be "safe care" places for those who cannot be cared for within their families.
Fine Gael's spokesman on mental health, Dan Neville TD, claimed lives were already being lost. "I have families who have come to me and said, "My son or daughter has been discharged and I know they are suicidal'," he said. "I've subsequently gone to their funerals."
The sub-committee also heard from officials of the Department of Health on the link between alcohol and suicide.
Dr Ann Hope, national alcohol policy adviser at the department, said the recent CLAN survey of student health illustrated that male students were far less likely to seek help for depression than their female counterparts.