Dr. Niall Muldoon:

Yes, absolutely. The Minister, Deputy Foley, created a pilot scheme across seven counties where they put counsellors into primary schools. She continued this in the current academic year and it will be evaluated by, I think, the University of Maynooth, but I am not sure. The anecdotal evidence is that it is has already been very successful in helping children get over things that are major for them but might be small in the long run. For example, a child might be bereaved or a child's parents may have separated. The child gets access to therapy and it allows them to come to grips with that. It does not become a major problem throughout their lifetime. To me, that is the way forward. It creates an opportunity for early intervention but it also creates a normality that it is okay to go to therapy. That means when they are 13 and 14 and go into secondary school, and they have an opportunity or need to go for whatever reason, they would not see it as strange or unusual. That is a big step forward. We have tried to engage with the Department of Health. We talk about inter-agency co-operation. The Departments of Health and education could work there because health will be benefiting. One would assume that will reduce the primary care waiting lists and stuff like that.