Waiting for Therapy in Ireland: What Parents Should Know

Receiving the referral is one thing.

Hearing how long the waiting list might be is another.

Because for many parents, that is the moment they begin to realise something difficult.

The wait may not be measured in months.

For many families, the reality is that support may not arrive for years.

It is important to say this clearly.

The long waiting lists for therapy services in Ireland are not a reflection on individual therapists or services.

Speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, and other professionals across the country are doing extraordinary work under enormous pressure.

The challenge is one of capacity.

There are simply far more children who need support than the current system can maintain.

The numbers behind the waiting lists

The national figures show a stark reality.

At the end of December 2025, there were 20,972 children on the waiting list for an initial speech and language therapy assessment in Ireland.

Of those, 7,414 children had been waiting more than a year, a 37 percent increase on the same figure in 2024.

The occupational therapy waiting list tells a similar story.

At the end of 2025, almost 26,000 children were waiting for occupational therapy, with 13,891 waiting longer than twelve months.

Developmental assessments face even longer delays.

At the end of 2025, over 20,200 children were overdue their Assessment of Need, more than double the figure recorded just two years earlier (HSE data, reported Irish Examiner, February 2026).

These are national statistics.

But behind every number is a child.

And a family waiting.

What the waiting actually feels like

There is a particular kind of uncertainty that comes with being on a waiting list without knowing when your appointment will arrive.

You check the post.

You wonder whether you should ring again.

You watch your child growing and changing every week.

You love them deeply for exactly who they are.

And at the same time, you quietly wonder what support might help them most.

Many parents describe this period as a strange kind of limbo.

Life keeps moving.

Your child keeps growing.

But the appointment remains somewhere out there.

Unconfirmed.

Still waiting.

A 2024 survey by Sensational Kids found that almost 30 percent of Irish families responding had been waiting more than two years for services, with some reporting waits of up to six years in certain areas.

In counties such as Cavan and Dublin North-West, children have been waiting more than two years for speech and language therapy alone.

For many families, the waiting is not just exhausting.

It can feel deeply uncertain.

Why the system is under pressure

Demand for children's therapy services has grown significantly over the past decade.

At the same time, staffing levels have struggled to keep pace.

As of 2025, more than 529 funded therapy posts within Children's Disability Network Teams alone remained unfilled (HSE data, RTÉ, May 2025).

Training places for speech and language therapists and occupational therapists are limited, and Ireland has historically trained fewer graduates than the system requires.

This is a systemic challenge rather than the fault of any individual service.

But it is a challenge that is now being spoken about more openly and more urgently than before.

Is anything changing?

There are signs that the scale of the issue is becoming more widely recognised.

In early 2026, the Minister for Higher Education identified increasing training places for speech and language therapy and occupational therapy as a national priority.

The government has since committed to a 35 percent increase in therapy training places by 2026 (Department of Further and Higher Education, April 2025), though the impact on waiting lists will take years to materialise.

The HSE is also developing a single point of access for disability, mental health, and primary care children's services, which aims to make it easier for families to enter the system.

These changes will take time.

But nationally, the conversation has shifted.

The question is no longer whether there is a problem.

It is how the system can begin to solve it.

What many families are doing while they wait

For the family sitting with a referral letter today, that does not make the waiting easier.

So many parents begin doing what they can in the meantime.

They look for information.

They connect with other families.

They learn small ways to support their child's development at home while waiting for therapy.

Small steps taken at home often become the first ways parents begin supporting their child while they wait for services.

One of the reasons VerbaNexa was created

This is exactly the space VerbaNexa was created to support.

A place where parents can find simple, personalised activities to support their child's development at home, grounded in clinical best practice and designed to fit into everyday family life.

Support that parents can use while waiting for therapy.

And alongside therapy when it becomes available.

Because children continue to grow and learn every day, even when services are delayed.

VerbaNexa is not live yet.

But we are getting close.

If this resonates with you, you are very welcome to join our early access list and be among the first families invited when VerbaNexa opens.