Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 March 2026
81. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Health her plans to address staffing shortages in child and adolescent mental health services and eliminate lengthy waiting lists in the provision of vital care; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17636/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraIt is a priority for me, and for Government, to ensure that children who need services can access them and access them on time. This is in line with our national mental health policy Sharing the Vision, our suicide reduction strategy Connecting for Life, and the HSE Annual Service Plan 2026.
Funding for mental health services has increased to nearly €1.6 billion in 2026. For context, funding since I took up this office has increased by over 51%. Specifically in relation to youth mental health, this year’s budget provided funding for new early intervention youth mental health services, funding to support a digital single point of access for youth mental health services, an additional specialist CAMHS eating disorders team, two new Mental Health of Intellectual Disabilities teams for children, and five new mental health Discovery Colleges for young people.
CAMHS nationally receives approximately €191 million annually, with a further €127 million provided to NGOs, many of which focus on youth mental health. Under Budget 2025, an additional €2.9 million has supported CAMHS to increase core staffing, develop a new CAMHS Emergency Liaison Service and expand CAMHS Hubs to improve crisis cover for services.
CAMHS has also initiated a targeted campaign to reduce waiting lists across all teams following the receipt of €3 million waiting list initiative funding from the HSE National Child and Youth Mental Health Office for 2025, and a similar initiative will take place this year.
I established the National Office for Child and Youth Mental Health in the HSE to improve leadership and all aspects of care across youth mental health. The Office published its Youth Mental Health Action Plan in February 2025. This ambitious plan for comprehensive reform across all youth mental health services, including the specialist CAMHS service, will deliver services which are safer, effective, easier to access and which offers appropriate support at all levels when needed.
The three-year Plan sets out a clear roadmap for the Department and HSE to ensure children and families have equitable and timely access to high-quality mental health care, including better links with Primary Care and Disability Services, and greater use of e-mental health responses. My aim is that services will be better connected and easier to navigate, with increased focus on the rights of young people and their families. The development of a Single Point of Access for all child and youth mental health referrals in partnership with disabilities, primary care, and voluntary and statutory agencies is a key priority within the new Action Plan.
I also commenced a series of visits to all HSE Regional Health Areas to meet with the Regional Executive Officers and their staff to focus on improvements to all aspects of Youth Mental Health care, to identify areas where increased activity is needed, and also areas of innovative and positive service delivery. This includes improving access and reducing CAMHS waiting lists particularly for those waiting over 12 months. I have stressed also the importance of filling all approved posts for each CAMHS team to ensure the effective delivery of services.
There continues to be growing demand for CAMHS with the number of referrals to Community CAMHS increasing from 17,436 in 2020 to 25,721 in 2024. This is an increase of 8,285 or 48% in referrals. Despite this increasing demand, the total number on the waiting list at the end of December 2025 was 4,462, down from 4,554 in April 2025. Significantly, the number waiting over 12 months decreased by 161 between April and December 2025 down from 763 to 602.
National community CAMHS staffing at December 2025 was 861.3 WTEs, of which 730.7 were Clinical WTEs. I allocated an additional 126 new posts to CAMHS over the past two years, of which 91 have already been onboarded with a further 16 in the latter stages of recruitment. A dedicated recruitment campaign has been launched for CAMHS and it is expected the remaining 19 posts will be filled in the coming months. I also allocated an additional 94 posts to youth mental health initiatives under Budget 2026, across crisis response, early intervention, specialist services and inpatient.
Across 2024, 2025, and 2026, 220 posts have been allocated to child and youth mental health, making up 34% of all new development posts allocated over this period. In addition, there were approximately 93 vacancies on CAMHS community teams at 10 October last, which is a decrease from 184 in September. 84 of these were at various stages of recruitment, with 8 in post. I have written to each Regional Executive Officer in the HSE to request all CAMHS posts be prioritised for recruitment.
In addition to the above, recommendation 75 of Sharing the Vision states that the organisation of mental health services should be aligned with emerging integrated care structures under Sláintecare reforms including those under the six new Regional Health Areas and those within the community. These reconfigured structures will support integrated management of the clinical workforce, with single lines of accountability, across hospital and community settings to meet population needs.
A key focus of the recently published StV Implementation Plan 2025-2027 will be to ensure greater equity of allocation of resourcing across and within regions, reflecting population need. This will involve taking account of demographics, socioeconomic factors and other relevant variables.
I will continue to work closely with the HSE to ensure that all aspects of youth mental health care are improved over this year and beyond.
