Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As I put on the record of the House on Tuesday, we have made progress on the CAMHS waiting list. At the end of 2023, there were 3,759 children on the list. This was a decrease of 480 children through the end of the year. It is still a very high number. I have a dedicated focus on it week on week, month on month. I welcome that reduction. It has to be noted in this context that CAMHS provides a multidisciplinary service, composed of psychiatry, psychology, nurse specialists and health and social care professionals. The Deputy asked a specific question and I was delighted last year, with the support of the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, to be the first Minister of State ever to support counselling psychologists, which we use across a lot of our teams. We allocated €750,000 in recurring funding year on year because it is a very costly role to take on. People are in college, qualifying and training for a very long time. This is a step forward to support more psychologists to work in Ireland.

See this speech in context