Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is important to point out that children in schools are also under enormous stress; it is not just a problem for the principals and teachers. There is no doubt that the cutbacks to guidance counsellors have put more pressure on everybody, both teachers and pupils. The biggest school in Wexford is Gorey Community School, which has 1,500 pupils. The students themselves have reacted to the problems in the school because they see that the principal, the remaining guidance counsellors and the teachers are under too much pressure. They have set up a project, called Project Smiler, whereby they are trying to highlight to pupils who are in trouble or not feeling great about themselves the importance of communicating and talking to others. They are putting helpline numbers in students' lockers and so forth. While that is a very positive development, the State must play a greater role in making sure that such developments happen in schools all over the country. It only took a handful of kids with initiative in Gorey to get the project started. I know such projects do not exist in all schools but the State should examine the possibility of promoting such initiatives.

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