Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair and know it is an area of specific interest to him and the committee. I was very keen to progress it and conscious that this type of support is not available in primary schools at present. This €5 million gives us this opportunity and we have begun the work as to how it will be rolled out and how we will work it through and pilot it in primary schools with an opportunity to roll it out even further. There will be great learnings from how we do it. There are services currently available at post-primary level, notwithstanding what the Chair said in terms of this type of provision. From the learnings we will have at primary level, there will be opportunities to go beyond that. In the first instance, we will roll this out, evaluate it and see what opportunities there are going forward.

I agree with the Chair that this is a necessary and timely provision for our primary schools, and it is not before its time. Coming out of Covid-19, we are conscious of the additional little stresses and strains that are placed on children and on schools and how best we can support them. This is the beginning of providing specific counselling supports at primary level and we will evaluate and learn from it and see what the potential is going forward in future budgets.