Mr. Paul Crone:

I might come in there. When a student engages with the professional services, the CAMHS supports will engage with the school at that stage and collect information. They will send us forms and, potentially, come out and look for information. Where it breaks down from the school's perspective is that the information does not come back as to what the recommendations are to support it. When a diagnosis is being looked for, schools readily have that information and provide it, but there is no mechanism in place for that to come back. No therapeutic supports are available to support schools and that is a call all of us have been making for many years, particularly in regard to the new interventions, the junior cycle, well-being and so on.

The question is whether the therapeutic supports should be hosted in schools and that is a debate that needs to be had. Principals do not have medical expertise, so there is a supervision issue if it is a medical service. That is a debate we want to take place but we are not even there yet. The information is not coming back down to schools. Once there is a diagnosis letter, the supports are not there to help the student engage with the learning. I use the word “engage” specifically because it is the purpose of schools to engage with the learning, not to deliver those therapeutic services-----