Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies Martin Ferris and Michael Healy-Rae for raising this matter and acknowledge the presence of Deputy Ferris in the Chamber. I am taking this Topical Issue matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, who unfortunately is unable to attend to take the matter herself. The Minister certainly welcomes the work done by Kerry Life Skills in Kerry, north Cork and west Limerick in the area of the future health and well-being of young people by helping them to make healthy choices. The area of well-being is a priority for her Department. As noted, its funding is mainly derived from local authorities and other sponsors. The Minister must prioritise funding of mainstream education initiatives and resources in both primary and post-primary schools. For example, the Department has published Well-Being in Post-Primary Schools: Guidelines for Mental Health Promotion and Suicide Prevention in 2012, which was developed to implement action 2.1 of Reach Out: National Strategy for Action on Suicide Prevention 2005-2014. In addition, three documents on bullying have been prepared for schools and for parents to respond to the action plan on bullying published in 2013.

Social, personal and health education, SPHE, programmes are delivered in all primary and post-primary schools. The Department of Education and Skills, in partnership with the Health Service Executive, provides continuing professional development, CPD, to teachers to enhance the quality of their teaching and learning in this vital area. The SPHE programme contains a number of specific games that are relevant to positive mental health and well-being. These include promoting all aspects of a young person's health, fostering a sense of care and respect for himself or herself and enabling him or her to make informed decisions and choices about all aspects of life, including health. The Minister has prioritised well-being as a principle in the new framework for junior cycle. The junior cycle years are a critical time in young people's lives and the Minister wishes to ensure young people are given the confidence to be happy, healthy, well-connected and resilient.

While the Minister congratulates Kerry Life Skills on its work, she must note it is not possible for her or her Department at this time to divert scarce resources to local initiatives, including the Kerry Life Skills initiative, since she must prioritise whatever funds are available, for example, to the delivery of SPHE to all schools and for the development of the new well-being approach.

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