Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 18 October 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills

Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion

Mr. John Curtis:

If I may, the issue of fluidity is very important because what we find in our schools is that oftentimes the principals are the leaders in the school. They will identify people who might be good in a caring capacity and they may like to get those people trained up as guidance counsellors, for instance, but to do that they have to take, say, an 18-month course. There are financial implications to that. There are release implications at school level. I think we could do a little work to allow the kind of fluidity Deputy Ó Cathasaigh mentioned because it is very important for the profession.