The number of children waiting in excess of a year for three critical developmental services increased by more than a third in 2025, new figures show.
Primary care and disability services have been coming under increasing pressure in recent years as demand continues to outpace supply.
Data from the Health Service Executive show 23,816 children awaiting psychology treatment at the end of 2024 and 29,018 last year.
Of those, 16,066 were waiting longer than a year to be seen, up 39 per cent on the 11,552 children waiting that long in December 2024.
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For occupational therapy, 13,891 children were waiting longer than a year to be seen, up from 10,476 when compared to the same time last year.
There were 25,986 children on the occupational therapy waiting list at the end of December 2025.
An initial assessment with a speech and language therapist had a waiting list of 20,972 at the end of last year. Of these, 7,414 were waiting more than a year, compared to 5,154 children waiting that long in 2024.
The HSE also provided an update on waiting lists for community disability network teams, which found the overall waiting list for these services fell from 12,920 to 9,363 last year, a reduction of 27 per cent
However, the response highlighted the length of time these children are often waiting, with 6,035, almost two-thirds of the waiting list, hanging on for longer than a year.
The data was released in response to parliamentary questions from Labour health spokeswoman Marie Sherlock.
Sherlock said the services are now at a “crunch point” and significant action is required to reduce them
“This is the heartbreaking thing. Weeks and months matter in a child’s life. To think a child who has a need now is potentially waiting 12 months or more. We know that the longest waiters, for psychology in particular, are up to 10 years in some areas. That’s not a waiting list. That’s just not acceptable,” she said.
Sherlock added that “serious consideration” must be given to introducing further support roles and assistant grades in psychology, speech and language, and occupational therapy specialities to support staff, therapists, and services.
She also called for an increase in training places for these specialities to tackle the waiting lists.
Speaking in the Dáil in recent weeks, Minister for Higher Education James Lawless said increasing the number of places available on speech and language therapy and occupational therapy training programmes is a “priority”.
A HSE spokeswoman said the organisation “regrets” any child would have to wait to access care and strengthening these services is a priority.
“A number of new measures are in development, including a single point of access for disability, mental health and primary care services for children, which will improve integration, flow and ensure access to the right care at the right time,” she said.
