Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. We hear them time and time again. We cannot hear them often enough but very little happens in terms of implementation. It is frustrating from our point of view so it must be frustrating from the witnesses' point of view when they see so little movement yet they present all the solutions here today. We do not need enormous reports or pilot projects. Like everybody, I am tired of pilot projects. It is not just a case of me being tired of them, it is the money we waste when we do not use what we learn from the pilot projects. It is very frustrating when there is no in-built evaluation and streamlining of those projects. I have been involved in some of them around mental health, bullying and other topics and I think we need to think long and hard. I know it is an attractive proposition if somebody gets some money to do a pilot project but I wonder whether we are all colluding in keeping things where they are. Those were some of the ethical questions - even for myself - around working in community development. To what degree were we colluding in that system?

My first question is directed to Ms Behan. Obviously, the solution is core funding. Core funding in third-level education has to be fixed. It also relates to what Mr. Jones was saying about staffing as well but without the core multi-annual funding, we are just not going to fix this problem. There is no skirting around it.

While it might be politically expedient to announce one project or one pilot project after another and to get the headlines for a couple of days and then go off on our merry way, if we do not fix what is under the bonnet then we are not going to fix this at all. When Ms Hughes said that there was "standing room only" on the waiting list, how many of those people standing there could not wait or did not wait to get the supports and services they needed? We are dealing with people's lives here, as all of the witnesses know.

Ms Hughes said the total funding for on-campus mental health supports was €5 million in 2020-21 and again in 2021-22; for the past three years, the mental health budget has stayed the same. However, €3 million is announced each year as additional funding. There are figures being played around with, which is nonsense. That needs to be called out. We are a cross-party committee. Mental health for young people is more serious than any political party on its own. We need to call it out, whether within our own parties or whatever to stop this from happening. While the ability to announce the funding each year as if it is new money is politically beneficial, how disruptive is it to providing a proper service on-campus when they cannot be planned properly and organisations do not have the resources on a year-on-year basis?