Mental health waiting lists for children not improving despite €30m extra funding

Limerick area ‘exemplar’ of good performance but Cork and Kerry list remains long

Minister of State for Mental Health Mary Butler has been visiting some of the 81 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in the State. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins
Minister of State for Mental Health Mary Butler has been visiting some of the 81 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in the State. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Mental health service waiting lists for children have failed to improve despite an additional €30 million in funding over the past two years, Minister of State Mary Butler has said.

Just before the November 2024 general election there were 3,700 children on the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) waiting list. “When I came back after my re-election and re-appointment as Minister of State for Mental Health, the waiting list was at 4,200. I was not one bit happy,” she said.

There are currently 4,544 children on the list with a budget increase from €137 million in 2023 to €167 million in 2025.

“I am not seeing the output for that additional money, however,” the Minister said.

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Limerick, however, is an “exemplar” of good performance. “I must give all credit” to their teams, she said. The area has seven teams and reduced its list of children waiting more than 12 months by 90 per cent and its list of children waiting under nine months by 59 per cent, down to 167.

“My point is if they can do it in some parts of the country, why can’t they do it in all of them?” Ms Butler said.

Her comments came during a debate on legislation to overhaul Ireland’s mental health laws, which is set to be passed by the Dáil this week. The Mental Health (Amendment) Bill updates 2001 legislation, more than 10 years after an expert group recommended 165 changes to the law.

It will also regulate all community Camhs services, currently outside the scope of the 2001 act. It strengthens the rules around the consent patients give to treatment and it updates the involuntary admission and detention process for people with severe mental health difficulties. The legislation also reforms regulation around consent to treatment for patients involuntarily admitted to hospital.

Sinn Féin TD Sorca Clarke said there are 763 children waiting more than a year for an appointment. Their parents and guardians “want to know when their child is going to be seen”.

“I am deeply concerned because not only do we have this exploding Camhs list on one hand, we also have hundreds of children waiting more than a year for psychology. These children are presenting with distress and a very clear need.”

Ms Butler said the number of referrals has grown exponentially in the past four to five years and “we are also seeing young people and children presenting much more complexly than they were previously”.

 

The Minister has been visiting some of the 81 Camhs teams in the State, starting with the Cork and Kerry region, which “have the highest waiting list in the country”, accounting for some 24 per cent of the entire list. “It was stark to look at the waiting lists and see where some teams are performing very well and others are not performing as well.”

Galway and Dublin Southeast carry 7-8 per cent of the waiting list while Monaghan and Cavan effectively have no waiting list for Camhs. “They had seven on the waiting list the day I was there,” Ms Butler said.

Marie O’Halloran

Marie O’Halloran

Marie O’Halloran is Parliamentary Correspondent of The Irish Times