Mr. John Curtis:

A lot of good work has been undertaken in schools in recent years to try to help students who might be having difficulties. The well-being guidelines produced in conjunction with junior cycle reform are very important. A review of anti-bullying policies in schools is under way and is also feeding into that. The document, Looking at Our School, which is a blueprint for best practice in schools, was reviewed this year. Its initial iteration was in 2016. Well-being is mentioned 28 times in the document. We have moved from talking about student voice to student participation. A lot of good work is taking place in the school communities to try to address some of these issues. I would like to think that schools are increasingly becoming kinder places because of these kinds of interventions. We need to that ongoing work at school level to be matched with resources. While I do not want to come back to resources all the time, it is very important to free up school leaders as much as possible to give them time to reflect. Augmenting guidance counselling would also be hugely important.

The Senator asked for priorities, and I take her point. We could do more in initial teacher education. That is a tick box and a recommendation from this committee would be very important. The review of services between CAMHS and An Garda Síochána is not dealing with a simple area. We know from dealing with social workers and staff in CAMHS that they are, like us, overstretched. There is no magic solution for this. We just have to work through it systemically. We have found that GDPR and confidentiality have closed down certain avenues for us where we used to have informal engagements. We could reflect on how we can improve on that area. With some concrete suggestions from the committee, allied to the good work taking place in schools which will continue through measures such as the SPHE guidelines, we will make our schools healthier places for our children.