Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Tánaiste's response and her personal observations about the value of guidance counselling, particularly in terms of mental health. The real value of a career guidance counsellor is that young people with issues in their family environment or personal issues can go to a counsellor and have a one-to-one session without any stigmatisation around the issue of mental health. They can get counselling in a very good environment - again, with the proviso that there must be fully qualified and dedicated guidance counselling provision.

The reason I put the question is that some of the replies have been somewhat ambiguous. A spokesperson for the Department of Education and Skills said that the aim would be to provide a whole-school approach to guidance counselling, including group work, class-based activities and other activities that focus on providing the best possible outcomes for students rather than exclusively using one type of activity. In later replies to parliamentary questions, there was talk about discretion being left to the schools and principals. This is not good enough and is not acceptable. I put it to the Tánaiste that what is needed is dedicated ex quotaprovision of career guidance counsellors outside the normal staffing schedule in second level schools. That is the key point.

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