Press Release: Wednesday 15 October 2025
Minister for Mental Health announces Budget 2026 funding to expand Mental Health National Clinical Programmes and bed capacity
- Significant additional funding of €10 million in Budget 2026 to establish eight new specialist community teams
- Funding to reopen 11 CAMHS inpatient beds at Linn Dara in Dublin and 10 new beds at the National Children’s Hospital
- 10 new beds funded to open Ireland’s first Intensive Care Rehabilitation Unit (ICRU) at the National Forensic Mental Health Service in Portrane, Dublin
The Minister for Mental Health Mary Butler has today announced a significant new investment of €10 million in eight new specialist mental health teams and a further €6.8 million of additional funding to open 31 inpatient beds as part of Budget 2026.
Under each of the National Clinical Programmes, specialist mental health services have been developed for Ireland, through the roll-out of community-based teams to support people with different mental health needs including eating disorders, psychosis, dual diagnosis, perinatal mental health, and self-harm and suicide-related ideation.
In Budget 2026, Minister Butler has allocated funding to develop:
- A new Dual Diagnosis team and the reopening of a Day Programme at Keltoi
- A new Early Intervention in Psychosis team
- Two new CAMHS Mental Health Intellectual Disability teams
- Two new Eating Disorder Teams (one CAMHS and one Adult)
- Two new Liaison Teams and other additional staff for Specialist Mental Health Services for Older People
- Two additional consultants for Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Services for the Rotunda and National Maternity Hospital
Minister Butler said:
“Significant investment in our National Clinical Programmes to date has had such a positive impact for thousands of people across the country who have been able to access specialist, multidisciplinary mental health supports in their community. In over five years as Minister for Mental Health, I have launched several new Models of Care, and as a country we now have a comprehensive framework for specialist mental health services.
“Over successive budgets I have built services up from one or two teams into national networks, and we will be maintaining this momentum and progress in 2026. I have allocated funding to several programmes to bring services to new parts of the country, and to help existing services meet rising demand. We still have much more to do to reach the people who require the support of specialist mental health services, and that is a key focus for me in this Budget.”
Minister Butler has also secured additional funding of almost €7 million to enhance CAMHS inpatient service capacity and to open further beds at the National Forensic Mental Health Service (NFMHS) at Portrane, Dublin.
Eleven CAMHS inpatient beds will be reopened at the Linn Dara approved centre in Dublin, and 10 new beds will be opened as part of the dedicated CAMHS unit within the new National Children’s Hospital.
At the National Forensic Mental Health Service (NFMHS), capacity has been scaling up since opening in 2022, and the investment in Budget 2026 sees an additional 30 staff allocated to facilitate the opening of Ireland’s first ever Intensive Rehabilitation Care Unit (ICRU). An ICRU is a unit which provides secure care for a small number of people on a longer-term basis, with much-needed rehabilitation focus and input.
Opening these beds will allow patients to be moved more efficiently through the various levels of support offered by the care pathway in the hospital, which will in turn allow for further admissions across the NFMHS.
Minister Butler said:
“Opening these beds is vital to improving access to mental health treatment, both for children and young people, and for those requiring forensic mental health care.
“Our dedicated CAMHS inpatient facilities are essential for the children and families who need them, and we’ve made strong progress to eliminate the admission of children to general adult units. Almost 100% of child and adolescent mental health admissions now go to dedicated units, up from 71% in 2020. Just two young people, both aged 17, were admitted to an adult ward for their own safety in the first half of this year. These additional 21 beds will help us keep that progress going.
“I’m proud to also be funding new beds to open Ireland’s first Intensive Care Rehabilitation Unit (ICRU) at the National Forensic Mental Health Service, building on last year’s Budget which provided staff to open the remaining beds at the Central Mental Hospital.”
This investment is embedded within Ireland’s approach to mental health policy implementation. Sharing the Vision – A Mental Health Policy for Everyone, and Connecting for Life, Ireland’s national strategy for suicide prevention, both commit to providing appropriate resources for people experiencing mental health difficulties, including the provision of specialist mental health care services and enhanced in patient bed capacity.