Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment. I worked with him on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Skills and know how committed he is to this area. I do not doubt that he will make a difference. I also congratulate my colleague, Deputy Browne, on his motion and his work in the past 16 months in this area, which has been quite incredible.

I have spoken several times on this topic in this Chamber. We never talk about it enough. We could spend every day speaking about mental health and what we need to do to promote positive mental health and to help those in crisis.

The committee had a special session on promoting positive mental health in our educational services, formal, non-formal and informal education. What goes on outside the school day is very important in different settings. Is school preparing our young people for life or for a life of tests? The committee recommended that stress management and resilience should be taught rather than caught. There is an idea sometimes that young people will develop those skills in an educational environment. Some will, but there are many who are vulnerable and will flounder and need help to find their inner strength. Is our system focused on the head? We need to think about education of the heart and the soul. If we do that, we will equip our young people for life.

I recently had an incredibly enlightening conversation with a careers guidance teacher in the Patrician Brothers Secondary, PBS, school, Sean Nolan, at the Cycle for Suicide rally in Newbridge. He coined the question whether we are preparing children for a life of tests or for the tests of life. There is great resonance and significance in that for us to ponder. Managing stress and building capacity to cope with tough times are vital skills for our young people to survive and thrive. The great poet Robert Frost said, "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on", but it does not go on for everyone. It should do. When we hear day after day, week after week, about young people taking their own lives, we realise life does not necessarily go on. It behoves everyone in the educational system, and us as legislators, to ensure schools and teachers are given resources, training and extra supports.

The groups that take on a lot of this work outside of schools also need the support. I refer to groups such as Kildare Youth Theatre, Griese Youth Theatre and many different organisations that work with young people to help them develop the skills they need. We have many excellent community organisations that work with people who are vulnerable to try to get them centred again. Places such as Hope(d) in Kildare need extra supports and help. There are many excellent volunteers helping to run these organisations but they need to have seed money. I would like to see a situation where they are supported financially through the Exchequer.

It is fair to say that we probably all are born with fears and feelings of inadequacy about ourselves. We tend to think that we are not good enough ourselves and that we are going to fail. Sometimes this can happen, but we are born with enough and we are born with the inner mechanisms that, with help and support, we can develop into the necessary life skills in order to thrive.

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