Ms Niamh Doherty:

There needs to be a real improvement within colleges when it comes to mental health. There are large waiting lists. The ratio of counsellors to students should be 1:1,000 but right now we are looking at about 1:2,240, which is not a safe and ethical level.

Something to note when it comes to working is that a lot of students, including me, go home for the summer and work a lot to earn money to put us through college for the next year and if I do an extra week and earn another €500 I am suddenly over the threshold. In the summer, when people have the time to work, we graft and try to get the money we deserve and then we cannot get access to the financial supports we should be entitled to.