The Government was today urged to improve mental health care for teenagers to deal with the growing numbers suffering from eating disorders.
There are only 20 beds in the country dedicated to child psychiatry and Fine Gael claimed young people are not getting the treatment they need if and when they are admitted to hospital.
Dan Neville, the party's mental health spokesman, warned eating disorders have a 20 per cent death rate — the highest of any psychiatric condition.
Mr Neville said: "Young people with eating disorders are admitted to medical wards, usually under gastroenterology, where staff are not trained or supported to treat them.
"The average stay is two-and-a-half months during which time they require significant input from general nursing staff working on a busy medical ward.
"Given that the average age for the onset of an eating disorder varies from 14 for anorexia to 17 for bulimia, the paucity of child and adolescent services results in many young people going untreated and many others remaining undiagnosed."
Around two per cent of girls are affected by anorexia and a further 3-5 per cent are bulimic. And figures also showed 10 per cent of all new cases of eating disorders are male.
Mr Neville said the facts were contained in a report from the Expert Group on Mental Health Policies and he claimed the Government had neglected to act on it.