Treating child mental health in Ireland like 'firefighting with a blindfold on' due to lack of research

'It is a really frustrating thing to see money poured into mental health anti-stigma campaigns, when this is a subject that demands actual action. That means investing in research and innovation.'

Ireland’s regressive approach to child mental health research means the HSE’s engagement with the issue amounts to “firefighting with a blindfold on”, according to a senior academic.

A new Irish and British study shows the lack of senior academic positions in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry here compared to a comparable discipline, neurology, which has almost five times more professorships compared with the youth psychology field.