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:

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:

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.

• The National Clinical Programmes (NCPs) were set up to address gaps in specialist mental health services. They are overseen by the HSE’s National Clinical Adviser and Group Lead for Mental Health. Improving these programmes has been a key focus for several years, with new funding and staff being allocated year-on-year to support their goal of delivering high-quality, person-centred, and evidence-based care through a clinician-led approach.
• Funding to date has enabled the set-up of teams for the specialist mental services listed under the clinical programmes. These services are typically meeting a need that public community health services had not been in a position to support before, and they represent a key development in mental health services in Ireland.
• Eating Disorders: Eating disorders have the highest mortality and morbidity within mental health, and early intervention, evidence-based care, and consistent support make a profound difference to the clinical and personal recovery of people who are affected by eating disorders. The Model of Care envisages a national network of community-based multidisciplinary teams to diagnose and treat people with eating disorders – eight teams for children and eight for adult. Currently, there are 14 teams funded including; five CAMHS teams and six Adult teams.
• Dual Diagnosis: In psychiatry, dual diagnosis often refers to a person experiences both a substance abuse problem and a mental health issue such as depression or an anxiety disorder. Treatment options must address both, and as such the HSE have developed a Model of Care which recommends the development of 12 Adult Specialist Dual Diagnosis Teams nationally, four Adolescent Hub Teams, and a National Dual Diagnosis Rehabilitation Centre. To date two Adult teams and two Adolescent teams are operational, with two further teams and additional posts funded in 2025 and which are currently being recruited.
• Early intervention in Psychosis: Psychosis is a condition that affects the way the brain processes information, covering a range of symptoms where a person’s beliefs, thoughts, feelings, perceptions, or behaviours are affected. A person with psychosis can find it difficult to distinguish what is real, and onset is typically in late teens/early twenties. Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) is an evidenced-based approach that can transform the experience and outcomes of young people facing psychosis, and five multi-disciplinary teams are now operational. Three additional EIP teams are in development this year by the HSE based on funding secured for 2025.
• Specialist Mental Health Services for Older People: This Model of Care provides a framework for the provision of specialist mental health services for older people, and how they interact with and complement general and specialist medical services for older people in primary and secondary care. It is currently being rolled out on a phased basis, with 4 pilot/demonstrator sites currently seeing patients and a further site in development.
• Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Services (SPMHS): Now available in all 19 maternity hospitals nationwide, Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Services (SPMHS) provide support to pregnant women and women with a baby up to one year old, with an existing or new mental health problem. Six consultant-led multidisciplinary teams are in place across major maternity hospitals (Coombe, NMH, Rotunda, Galway, Cork, Limerick), with 13 spoke sites staffed by perinatal mental health midwife posts. Work is ongoing by the HSE to progress the development of a Perinatal Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) for Ireland, an inpatient mental health service with relevant maternity support to allow women to stay with their babies during their mental health treatment.
• Mental Health Intellectual Disability (MHID): In 2021 the Model of Care for Mental Health Intellectual Disability was published by the HSE, to improve the mental health service experience and outcomes for people with an intellectual disability. Approximately four in every ten people with intellectual disability can experience a mental illness in their lifetime, and the Model of Care envisages a national network of multi-disciplinary teams – 31 for adults, and 16 for children. Currently there are 18 Adult teams and 15 CAMHS-ID teams.

CAMHS Inpatient services

• Linn Dara: The purpose built 24-bed Linn Dara inpatient unit on the Cherry Orchard campus is configured as two11-bed wards and an additional two-bed High Dependency Unit. In May 2022, due to nursing staff shortages one of the 11-bed units was closed, and the capacity of the service was reduced to 13 beds. The additional funding secured by Minister Butler under Budget 2026 to re-open the 11 beds in Linn Dara will have a significant positive effect on service delivery. Although CAMHS inpatient beds have been operating at 70% capacity for the past 18 months, this development means there will now be a further increased availability of inpatient assessment and treatment for young people with severe mental health difficulties.
• National Children’s Hospital: The new National Children's Hospital will include 20 dedicated, ensuite mental health (CAMHS) beds, to treat patients with acute mental health problems and eating disorders.

National Forensic Mental Health Service

• ICRU: The Central Mental Hospital (CMH) is registered as an Approved Centre under the Mental Health Act 2001 and is a designated centre under the Criminal Law Insanity Act 2006. The CMH relocated to Portrane, Co. Dublin, on 13 November 2022. On the National Forensic Mental Health Service site in Portrane, an Intensive Care and Rehabilitation Unit (ICRU) was constructed as part of the overall capital project in 2022. The additional funding secured by Minister Butler under Budget 2026 will enable the ICRU to open on a phased basis, allowing patients with complex mental health needs to move through the various levels of support offered by the forensic care pathway in the hospital, and in turn allow for further admissions across the Central Mental Hospital.