Over 400 children are waiting for an appointment with the mental health services in Cork and Kerry.
The HSE says child and adolescent mental health services continued during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, during the height of the crisis, 90% of consultations were through phone and video call.
There are currently 2,315 children or adolescents waiting for an appointment with mental health services nationally.
Of these, 411 – or 17% - are waiting in Cork and Kerry.
In terms of longer waiting times, children and adolescents in the two counties are disproportionally affected: there are 224 children nationally waiting for an appointment for longer than 12 months – 103 of these are in Cork and Kerry.
Nationally, 68 children are waiting longer than 18 months; 51 of these are in Cork and Kerry.
During the period March-June, the number of children or adolescents in the two counties waiting for an appointment with mental health services decreased from over 630 to 411.
This information was released to Newstalk journalist Eoghan Murphy, following a Freedom of Information Act request.
