Mr. Ben Holmes:

To begin, I am a Cycle Against Suicide ambassador, which is an organisation that deals with mental health and young people. If I was to focus on one thing about suicide prevention and mental health in general in young people, I would say that it is very easy to rationalise it as adults, and to bring it down to saying that if we spread positivity, that that will stop it. Young people are smarter than that. As much as one can stick up posters that say that suicide is not the answer and one can cover over a school environment or bullying that is going on, that is not the way to stop suicide or these issues. A much more hands-on approach is needed and obviously we have been talking about peer-to-peer discussions and of teachers being trained properly to deal with this. That is essential to allow people to understand suicide. When it comes back to where we are talking about having therapists and specialists in schools, I am an 18-year-old now, and if my information is correct, I lost access to CAMHS or other external therapy organisations a year ago, yet young people in my age group, between 16 and 18, are much more likely to commit suicide or have these issues than students who are younger, who are not going to be doing the leaving certificate examination, and who do not have as many adult stressors in their life. That represents the contrast to me between what is actually happening and the infrastructure that is being provided, and there is a real imbalance between them.