Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I fundamentally disagree with the Deputy. The two traditional aspects to guidance counsellors are pastoral care and actual career guidance. The resources for career guidance, the amount of information available and a host of other facilities which exist are totally different from what was available ten, 15, 20 or 30 years ago.

With regard to pastoral care and mental health in a school environment - particularly in post-primary schools, which is what we are discussing - in the health document published by the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, she clearly articulated that the mental health of the school community is the responsibility of everybody in the school community and that everybody should feel empowered. If somebody is in an unhappy place, which could lead to very tragic circumstances, the potential victim or sufferer should feel comfortable enough to be able to articulate his or her concerns in the first instance to any member of the school community or to a friend and tell someone he or she is feeling very depressed. The person told should feel empowered to say to the guidance counsellor that the first person is feeling very depressed, or should be seen to, and in turn the guidance counsellor, who is not a qualified psychiatrist or health worker per sebut who has very clear skills, should be able to refer the person to a proper professional service.

In light of many of the tragedies we have had in schools recently - we are all aware of them - the health of the school community and the young people in it in particular must be more than just one person's responsibility. This was the message very clearly sent out by the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch. Some people felt this was an intrusion into their area, although this is not true of all guidance counsellors. We must recognise that young people in particular suffer through cyberbullying and a host of other issues, and we have had great tragedies, including very poignant tragedies in Deputy McConalogue's constituency. We must make it the responsibility of more than just one person.

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