Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for picking the topic.

No doubt this is a complex issue. It is not black and white. I welcome the report. There is some positive stuff in it. We do not have a great deal of time, but I will pick on a couple of matters.

The early intervention in childhood, the report states, has been shown to be particularly effective. I would definitely be a strong advocate of that. There is also encouraging evidence on the use of sport in promoting positive mental health, in particular among young men. That is something that needs a little more attention.

On sport, I am forever talking about Wexford Youths. I coach players between the ages of 15 and 20 and the Minister of State would be amazed at how much a coach can help a child. He is asked to speak after the game about how he thought he played and how he thought the unit played, and he is forced to talk about himself. There is a problem in Ireland among young boys. I see these boys aged 15 and 16 years coming in to me and if one had to use one word to describe them it would have to be "insecure". They are not good at expressing themselves whereas, obviously, the girls are. There are five times more boys than girls committing suicide.

I note the Italians are far more expressive. Our suicide rates are five times those of the Italians and it is because the Italians are much better at expressing themselves. We need to be pro-active in the area of dealing directly with the fact that our boys are not good at expressing themselves at an early age.

The only other point I make is that it would be disingenuous of us to pretend that the recession does not have an impact. It is a factor. The cutbacks have had a big impact because many more are in a poor place.

On the issue of guidance councillors, I am aware from a school in Gorey where there are over 1,500 children - there are 260 in sixth year alone - that the councillors are struggling to make weekly appointments with students. The majority of their work is taken up by emergency cases as well as career advice for the sixth years, and they are not really getting to the children early enough. Their hours this year were cut, from 88 last year to 55. This is not a good idea. The Minister needs to think again about the cuts to career guidance.

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