{"id":15521,"date":"2026-02-13T13:10:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T13:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?p=15521"},"modified":"2026-02-13T13:10:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T13:10:17","slug":"health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Health Minister in denial over recruitment in crisis-hit primary care services for young people"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Social Democrats mental health and disability spokesperson Liam Quaide has challenged Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill for refusing to commit to baseline staffing targets and recruitment within primary care services for young people.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deputy Quaide, who brought to light the extent of waiting-lists across disciplines and health regions through a series of parliamentary questions, said:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cYoung people are routinely waiting two to five years for appointments &#8211; in some cases far longer &#8211; for primary care supports.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThese remarkable delays span disciplines such as occupational therapy, psychology, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">physiotherapy and speech and language therapy in all parts of the country &#8211; interventions t<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hat are short-term in duration and not, by any means, wraparound, sustained, multidisciplinary input.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe backdrop to these staggering waiting lists is years of chronic neglect by successive <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">governments, compounded by the HSE\u2019s recruitment embargo in 2023\u20132024 and the subsequent and ongoing restrictions imposed by the Pay and Numbers Strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cServices have been left with threadbare staffing &#8211; in many areas, recruitment <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">has effectively stalled for years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cMinister Carroll MacNeil stated at the Oireachtas Health Committee that she could not commit to baseline staffing benchmarks per population and suggested that sourcing staff is the main difficulty &#8211; this reflects a fundamental failure of workforce planning and that the HSE has not been trying to recruit to anywhere near the level of need that exists within crisis-hit services.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cA Vision for Change in 2006 set clear staffing and resource benchmarks per head of population &#8211; nearly twenty years later, the government cannot even acknowledge basic population-based need for primary care services for young people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThis leaves families stuck on years-long waiting lists and clinicians submerged in unmanageable caseloads &#8211; all while government refuses to define what adequate staffing even looks like.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWithout defined staffing targets and a commitment to recruit, clinicians remain overwhelmed and families continue to be failed by a system operating without serious workforce planning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>February 13th, 2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Social Democrats mental health and disability spokesperson Liam Quaide has challenged Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill for refusing to commit to baseline staffing targets and recruitment within primary care services for young people. Deputy Quaide, who brought to light the extent of waiting-lists across disciplines and health regions through a series of parliamentary questions, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15502,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,652,653,7,660],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-liam-quaide","category-mental-health","category-press-release","category-public-services"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Health Minister in denial over recruitment in crisis-hit primary care services for young people - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Health Minister in denial over recruitment in crisis-hit primary care services for young people - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Social Democrats mental health and disability spokesperson Liam Quaide has challenged Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill for refusing to commit to baseline staffing targets and recruitment within primary care services for young people. Deputy Quaide, who brought to light the extent of waiting-lists across disciplines and health regions through a series of parliamentary questions, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-13T13:10:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Liam-at-conference.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"518\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Press Officer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Press Officer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Press Officer\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7\"},\"headline\":\"Health Minister in denial over recruitment in crisis-hit primary care services for young people\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-13T13:10:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":334,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/Liam-at-conference.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Health\",\"Liam Quaide\",\"Mental health\",\"Press Release\",\"Public services\"],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\\\/\",\"name\":\"Health Minister in denial over recruitment in crisis-hit primary care services for young people - Social Democrats\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/Liam-at-conference.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-13T13:10:17+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/Liam-at-conference.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/Liam-at-conference.jpg\",\"width\":518,\"height\":350},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Health Minister in denial over recruitment in crisis-hit primary care services for young people\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\",\"name\":\"Social Democrats\",\"description\":\"Change Ireland for the better\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Social Democrats\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"width\":846,\"height\":358,\"caption\":\"The Social Democrats\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/socialdemocratsireland\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/SocDems\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7\",\"name\":\"Press Officer\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/author\\\/press\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Health Minister in denial over recruitment in crisis-hit primary care services for young people - Social Democrats","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\/","og_locale":"ga_IE","og_type":"article","og_title":"Health Minister in denial over recruitment in crisis-hit primary care services for young people - Social Democrats","og_description":"Social Democrats mental health and disability spokesperson Liam Quaide has challenged Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill for refusing to commit to baseline staffing targets and recruitment within primary care services for young people. Deputy Quaide, who brought to light the extent of waiting-lists across disciplines and health regions through a series of parliamentary questions, [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\/","og_site_name":"Social Democrats","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","article_published_time":"2026-02-13T13:10:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":518,"height":350,"url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Liam-at-conference.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Press Officer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@SocDems","twitter_site":"@SocDems","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Press Officer","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\/"},"author":{"name":"Press Officer","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7"},"headline":"Health Minister in denial over recruitment in crisis-hit primary care services for young people","datePublished":"2026-02-13T13:10:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\/"},"wordCount":334,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Liam-at-conference.jpg","articleSection":["Health","Liam Quaide","Mental health","Press Release","Public services"],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\/","name":"Health Minister in denial over recruitment in crisis-hit primary care services for young people - Social Democrats","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Liam-at-conference.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-13T13:10:17+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"ga-IE","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ga-IE","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Liam-at-conference.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Liam-at-conference.jpg","width":518,"height":350},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/health-minister-in-denial-over-recruitment-in-crisis-hit-primary-care-services-for-young-people\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Health Minister in denial over recruitment in crisis-hit primary care services for young people"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","name":"Social Democrats","description":"Change Ireland for the better","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization","name":"The Social Democrats","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ga-IE","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","width":846,"height":358,"caption":"The Social Democrats"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","https:\/\/x.com\/SocDems"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7","name":"Press Officer","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/author\/press\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15521"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15522,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15521\/revisions\/15522"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}