Rónán Mullen (Independent)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh na finnéithe uilig. I thank the witnesses for their important presentations on this issue of great concern. It is fair to say that the call for resources would be a significant common denominator in all their presentations. I am sure they would have support from everybody in this room on that. I will throw a few hot potatoes of varying levels of heat at the witnesses. There are some issues I am thinking about and some questions I have. While I support all the calls for resources, I worry that if we only talk about resources there is a danger we will never have enough resources because we will be subject to the ups and downs in the economy and so on. That is all the more reason that we are able to ask ourselves if there are ways in which the system is failing and if things could be changed that might enhance those resources or prevent the need for them. For example, I mention the graduate exodus. Is it a part of the problem that we are not able to get the people we need? Do we need to think brave thoughts about reserving places for people who commit to staying in the country after they qualify, for example, in the context of the repayment of fees in the future? Perhaps there could be some way that a debt could be incurred if they do not stay because it seems to me that the brain drain is part of the story.

I will turn to issues relating to how the system works. There is an understandable tendency to think in terms of having resources in schools, but that is probably predicated on schools being larger in size. I question whether that could be a problem. I mention the concept of Dunbar's number, namely,that people can only relate to 150 other people. That is an idea that is out there. Should we be concerned about schools being too big? Could that be a negative contributor to student mental health?

In recent days, I was struck by all the talk of the great role that the chaplaincy and spiritual support played in Donegal in the context of the terrible tragedy there. I am sure the witnesses will have seen various articles on that by various commentators. In addition to talking about the important role of guidance counsellors should we be saying more about chaplains? I often think of Victor Frankl's book Man's Search for Meaningand Nietzsche’s quote: "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how." The Education Act 1998 talks about physical, moral, spiritual and social education. The SPHE consultation document is much more stripped down and talks about physical and emotional education. I wonder if we are missing something in the system and if we are, I wonder if we are brave enough to talk about that. My impression is that what is proposed in SPHE is fairly stripped down and does not talk about much to do with friendship, nor does it mention bereavement at all. I was interested in what Ms O'Rourke had to say on that subject. Do we need to start asking questions about the things we discuss and the things we do not discuss?

I was glad to hear what Mr. Crone had to say about the points system. The tail of the high points courses is wagging the dog of the whole system. We have discussed this in this committee before but I refer to preventing student anxiety and mental health problems at whatever level of the scale they are experienced and we have to say that the CAO and the colleges have a responsibility here. Those are my various potatoes and I would be glad to hear what the witnesses have to say on any or all of them.