'He needs help, not another discharge'... Meath Mother's plea for help

A heartbroken Meath mother has spoken of her heartbreak as she battles to get her 24 year old son proper psychiatric care.

In a week in which emerged there are 165 children and young people in Meath and Louth waiting over a year to access Childrens and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), she said her son, who is now 24, has been let down by health services all his life.

“He was very bright at school, got 9As in his Junior Cert, but showed signs of problems from around the age of nine. He is in a very bad state now -we have been told he is suicidal and a danger to others, but he is regularly discharged from hospital after a day or two, he needs inpatient care, but we cannot get him a place.

“He is so ill he spends 20 hours a day on the couch, he doesn't wash, hasn't brushed his teeth in months.

“He has called an ambulance at least 50 times in the last few years and been taken to mental health units, but has been sent home after a day or so. He has been brought to different hospitals and clinics but he is always discharged. Even when he was sectioned and brought to a psychiatric unit, they sent him home.

She explains she brought her son to his GP when he was nine because of concerns about anger issues he was displaying. “He did very well at school. He played football for the local team and was looked up to as a great footballer.

In the first month of his Leaving Cert year, a friend of his took his own life. “His friend had told my son he was depressed, but not to tell anyone and when he died my son felt very guilty.”

“When he got his Leaving Cert results, he didn't get the university place he wanted and despite having other offers, he didn't go to college at all.”

His mother says that her son had stated smoking cannabis and had also used cocaine.

He started to get violent, breaking things around the house and on one occasion punched his father.

“We were told he had borderline personality disorder, but we wonder if he is bipolar as there are people in the wide family with that condition.”

Her son no longer uses drugs but has been very unwell for several years she feels he is not getting the treatment he needs.

“He needs a stay in hospital. I brought him to a private consultant in Dublin, but he was given tablets which made him worse. I also offered to pay for a six week private stay in a hospital - at €750 a night it was going to be very difficult, but they wouldn't take him because if after six weeks he still needed treatment they had no guarantee we could pay them.”

“It is terrible to see him. He needs in house treatment, but he keeps being discharged and he is not getting the treatment he needs despite being suicidal and a danger to others.”

Deputy Johnny Guirke, has criticised the Government over their continued failure to tackle the crisis in mental health care for young people.

“It is deplorable how bad the situation with CAMHS has got in recent years and the news that there are over 500 children and young people on a waiting list to access help from CAMHS as of June 2026 is utterly devastating.

“The figures provided by the HSE in response to a parliamentary question asked by my colleague, Sorca Clarke TD, show that over 165 children and young people living in Meath/Louth who are in need of mental health support have been left waiting over a year to access CAMHS. These figures are deeply concerning. This should be a wake up call for this Government.

“I held a public meeting on mental health in Navan back in March. I was joined by families, young people and those working in this field in our communities. There were serious concerns raised about the pressures facing mental health services. The stories I heard at that meeting had a deep impact on me. It is so disheartening to see that people with mental health issues and their families and loved ones feeling hopeless, trying to compete to be seen, to be heard and to try and get the vital support they desperately need.

“Behind every number on this waiting list is a child or young person and a family waiting for help. A wait of more than 12 months for specialist mental health support can have a detrimental impact on a young person and leaves families feeling completely abandoned by the system.

“We cannot continue to normalise children waiting months and, in some cases, more than a year for access to mental health services. Early intervention matters. When a young person is struggling with their mental health, they should not have to wait until their circumstances get worse before they can access the specialist support they need.

“What we need to see immediately is investment in community based early intervention, sufficient multidisciplinary teams and a clear plan to bring down waiting times.

“Mental health must be treated with the same urgency as physical health. I urge the Government to act now to reduce these waiting lists and ensure they can access the mental health care they need, when they need it,” he said.