The General Manager for Mental Health in the South East says their budget for services is considerably less than other countries like France and the UK.
David Heffernan says their revenue for the year is €92m which is half what some other countries get, making it difficult to balance where the money is spent.
In Ireland the South East is the second most deprived area for resources.
Speaking to KCLR Live, Mr Heffernan says nurses make up the bulk of the costs for staffing but they have a huge number of other areas to cover too.