Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Yes. I will pick up on some of these points. It occurs to me that some of the challenges concerning access to devices, and I see this in me, is the impact a phone and social media have on concentration and focus. It is all the more so for young people who have hardly known any different. That is why things like sport, gardening and growing vegetables and creative writing are all so important. It also occurs to me that libraries and deep proper reading is another great way to achieve this kind of more focused engagement with a task and setting aside all other kinds of stuff. Is there a role here for libraries in bringing us back to focus? How could we expand on that?

On a more positive note, and again posing this question to Dr. Muldoon, in regard to older children, there seems to be some indication that there has been some marginal reduction in alcohol abuse among this generation, although there is still harmful behaviour. I think we are calling it generation Z, kids aged between 14 and 18. Is Dr. Muldoon beginning to see any of this reduction? Is there much that we can point to in this regard? Alcohol and drug abuse have a major impact on mental health. There is, obviously, a great deal of harmful and risky behaviour still and we should be far from complacent, but there seems to be some germ of a positive in this regard. Would Dr. Muldoon like to comment?