Over 1,800 medical card holders have been waiting more than four months to be assessed for counselling.

Freedom of Information figures released to Newstalk show that 233 have been waiting longer than six months for the initial assessment.

The HSE's Counselling in Primary Care (CIPC) service provides up to eight sessions to medical-card holders, with mild to moderate psychological difficulties.

It operates from over 240 locations throughout the country.

The new figures show that just under 4,000 people are waiting for an initial assessment.

Over 1,800 of those are waiting at least four months, with 233 waiting over six months.

Of those waiting at least six months, 42 are in Donegal and 39 are in Carlow and Kilkenny.

Brendan Kelly, a professor of psychiatry in Trinity College Dublin, told Newstalk the waiting list is a concern.

“Early psychological intervention is vital to prevent emotional and psychological difficulties progressing,” he said.

“Things like depression, anxiety, stress and loss issues – these benefit from early counselling, early psychology and that is not happening as much as it should.”

He said the national counselling scheme should be expanded.

“There are a large number of people who just don’t make the cut to qualify for a medical card scheme, but private psychological therapy is both expensive and difficult to access,” he said.

“So, it would be good to see the scheme expanded beyond that in terms of medical cards and also young people, particularly teenagers because that is a time of psychological development but also vulnerability.

“So, I would like to see the CIPC scheme expanded to below the age of 18 years as well.”

The HSE said the COVID pandemic impacted the service significantly, as face-to-face appointments were paused for nearly six months.

It said there are not enough counselling spaces available to meet demand.