At least 30 key positions in child mental health remain unfilled for more than a year, figures show

In South Tipperary, the two community Camhs teams have been without key disciplines — psychologists, a social worker, and an occupational therapist — for at least 22 months. File picture: iStock/PA

At least 30 key positions within the HSE’s child mental health services have been unfilled for more than a year amid a crisis of under-resourcing.

New data from the HSE shows at least 30 psychology, social-work, and occupational-therapy posts within Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs) have been vacant for upwards of 12 months.

The figures, released to Cork East Social Democrats TD Liam Quaide via a series of parliamentary questions, show at least 14 of those positions have been vacant since 2023 or earlier.

The figure of 30 posts unfilled for longer than 12 months is itself a minimum one, given the Dublin and Midlands division of the HSE did not provide a breakdown of its historic unfilled positions, stating such detail would require a “manual review of individual posts” and would “take some time to complete”.

With regard to the overall Camhs vacancies, South Tipperary was noted as a particularly stark example.

Both of the area’s two community Camhs teams have been without key disciplines — psychologists, a social worker, and an occupational therapist — for at least 22 months.

In Limerick, meanwhile, a post had become vacant in May of 2023, but no further action was taken to expedite recruitment until the role was escalated to a national panel in October of 2025 — 28 months later.

Other posts were lost to cutbacks under the HSE’s pay and numbers strategy. One senior occupational therapy post in Louth/Meath has been vacant since January 2022, and has yet to be given approval to recruit.

Mr Quaide, himself formerly a practising clinical psychologist, described the figures as “the predictable result of chronic underinvestment and failed workforce planning”.

“Throughout the country, young people with serious mental health difficulties are being sent to teams stripped of essential disciplines,” he said.

“Those with co-existing intellectual disabilities, a particularly vulnerable group, face an even more threadbare service. In other parts of the country, the service is non-existent. 

The Government is coldly rationing essential multidisciplinary care, and children and families are paying the price.

 A spokesperson for the HSE said it “regrets that anyone would have to wait to access care and is committed to delivering efficient, high-quality services for all patients and service users”.

Of the shortfall in intellectual disability postings, they said such roles “are very specialised, and it is challenging to get specialist staff to match geographic need”.

“Health and social care services in Ireland, including Camhs and Camhs-ID, operate within a highly competitive global market for healthcare professionals, with significant international shortages across many of the disciplines required,” they said.

“[Mental health] Minister [Mary] Butler has invested in Camhs (Intellectual Disability) services and is driving forward the phased rollout of teams in the context of labour force constraints and a challenging international labour market,” the spokesperson added.