MORE THAN 200,000 children in Ireland are on waiting lists to be seen by a health care professional.
According to RTÉ, almost 215,000 Irish children make up the lists, with more than one in four children waiting for over a year to be seen, and some waiting for over two years.
The amount of children and teenagers attempting to access mental health services has grown by a fifth in just one year, with over 7,000 waiting to see a psychologist.
Figures seen by RTÉ News indicates that 90,000 children are waiting for community health care services, including crucial early intervention for children born with disabilities, with 19,000 waiting for speech and language therapy.
Of those 19,000, 2,000 children have been waiting over a year to be seen and 300 for more than two years.
The amount of people and length of time spent waiting changes massively from area to area-- Dublin's Northside was by far the most worrying, with 2,400 children on a waiting list for speech and language therapy, compared to ten children in Dún Laoghaire and none at all in South East Dublin.
With 117,000 children throughout the country already on hospital waiting lists, the additional 90,000 for community health setvices brings the total to almost 215,000, figures which Fianna Fáil Health Spokesperson Stephen Donnelly described as "appalling" when questioned on RTÉ's Morning Ireland show.
See More: HSE, Ireland, Mental Health Services, Waiting List
