Ireland Are Waiting Almost 10 Years for Their First Occupational Therapy Appointment, According to New Figures From the Health Service

More than 30,000 children with mild to moderate disabilities are on waiting lists for a first OT assessment, with 17,000 (57 per cent) having waited more than a year. The data, released to Social Democrats TD Liam Quaide following a parliamentary question to Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, covers primary care services for children aged 17 and under. These services include psychology, OT, physiotherapy and speech and language therapy, and are distinct from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, which cater to children with moderate-to-severe mental health difficulties.

In Meath, children face a 508-week wait (nine years, nine months) for a first OT appointment, while in Dublin North the wait is 473 weeks (nine years, one month). In Louth and Laois-Offaly, the longest waits exceed eight years. Quaide said waiting numbers had fallen somewhat since last year, but the figures for those facing the longest waits remained extraordinary.

For psychology, the longest current wait in Dublin North is 536 weeks (10 years, four months), and in Dublin North West it is 514 weeks (almost 10 years). More than eight-year waits persist in Dublin South City, Dublin South West and Dublin West. The national psychology table shows 32,038 children were waiting for treatment in June.

Quaide said the most striking feature of the lists was their persistence and geographical spread. "Children are still waiting eight, nine and 10 years in parts of Dublin, while waits of four to six years remain across Cork, Limerick and other areas, he said. Almost 10,500 children with mild to moderate needs are awaiting their first physiotherapy appointment, with 2,861 waiting more than a year.

In Laois-Offaly, Meath, Waterford and Louth, some children have waited more than six years. There were 21,784 children awaiting an initial speech and language therapy assessment at the end of June; 8,109 had waited more than 12 months and 1,647 more than two years. The longest speech therapy waits were in South Tipperary (244 weeks, or four years, eight months).

Quaide said the waiting times were so entrenched that, for some disciplines in some areas, the service "may as well not exist at all" for children who need it. He said the Minister had refused to commit to clear population-based staffing targets, calling it "indefensible". "These are services that have been chronically under-resourced and constrained by recruitment restrictions.

The consequences for children and their families are profound, he said. In its response, the HSE said it is committed to delivering efficient, high-quality services, noting that over 1.3 million patients were seen by primary care services in 2025 and that it was committed to reducing waiting times. The data was released on foot of a parliamentary question to Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill.