Idle mental health unit for children

A VITAL unit for children with mental health problems that has been ready to open for several months is still lying idle because staff have not been appointed to run it.

The temporary eight-bed inpatient facility in Cork would have brought the total number of beds for young people across the country to 30.

With just 22 child and adolescent beds – 10 in Galway and 12 in Dublin – there have been repeated warnings that Ireland falls down significantly when it comes to providing mental health services for young people.