Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Forgive me but my next question is somewhat negative. I will direct it primarily at Mr. Ryan and Drs. Duffy and Morning, but if Mr. Smyth and Ms Murphy want to respond also, that will be fine. The figures from the My World Survey show an increase of 15% to 20% in the number with severe anxiety and an increase in those reporting severe depression from 14% to 21%. These are not small increases; they are very significant. They occurred before Covid, which I presume could have been an exacerbating factor. My question on this might be a bit nebulous. What is behind the increases? I am sure there are all sorts of environmental issues. At third level there are particular pressures but these statistics are not necessarily specific to third level. Has much research been done on this? Some of the factors could be global but some could be particular to Ireland. Why are the increases so significant?