Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 5 April 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills

Future Funding of Higher Education: Discussion (Resumed)

Photo of Fiona O'LoughlinFiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have one final point. The committee on a number of occasions had engagement in particular around bullying in schools. Senator O'Reilly referred to the report we produced, which recommended that every school would have access to emotional supports and counselling. We are talking here about third level education but building on Senator O'Reilly's first question, sometimes at third level we see the impact of bullying that was not addressed or a situation where a young person has not been helped or supported. Dr. Duffy spoke earlier about the fact that around 17 is the age when young people start to demonstrate their mental health challenges. I have been working with a group led by Shona Brady who put much work into this. We feel strongly about this as a committee. That is bearing in mind the issues that Mr. Smyth raised about educational psychologists as well and the challenges that are there. What does Mr. Smyth think about something like that being put in place? I take on board what Ms Murphy said earlier about addressing bullying. Has anybody a comment on that?

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