Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

To continue Deputy Ó Laoghaire's point about educational psychologists, there are three avenues people can take with PhDs. The reason so few are going into educational psychology is that it is unfunded or not funded to the same level. The same kind of training is given and the same number of hours are worked across all three PhDs. I feel very strongly that this is not just up to the schools to deal with. We must look at what skills we need and once we identify them, that is where we need to put the money.

I do not think our schools mirror society. We are putting young people through a system that does not mirror the society in which they eventually end up. I was looking for statistics and because they are down in the dungeons, I could not get access to the Internet. The numbers of people who go to counsellors as adults have shot up. As Mr. Chambers rightly noted, the mental health of young people is what determines the mental health of adults. That makes complete sense so this is the time to invest in the area.

I was delighted to hear Ms Murray talk about the engagement with the Irish Second-Level Students' Union, ISSU, because it relates to one of the really good things that happened during the pandemic. One of the bad things was that it affected young people's health but one of the good things was much more emphasis on the voice of young people. Everybody knows about the ISSU, which has been running for years, because of its great work.

My next point concerns getting into services. I recently visited Barnahus, a sexual assault unit in Galway with which Ms Jennings will be familiar. When I was there, the lack of access directly from Barnahus to counselling services was raised. Children come forward with sexual abuse and sexual assault claims. They can also speak directly to the courts through that facility and this would be replicated around the country. People are raising an issue - I presume the same is true in schools - but there is no direct counselling service afterwards so they could be on a waiting list, which seems shocking. There are areas where we need a straight path. If someone raises an issue that is so severe, there needs to be somebody next door with whom he or she can speak. Notwithstanding all the issues around educational psychologists or whoever the staff are, some areas need to be prioritised.