James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the committee on the fine work done and on producing this report. As we know, schools play a role in promoting, supporting and developing positive mental health in their students. We know that early intervention is critical. I am chairman of the board of management of an Educate Together national school in Wexford town. We are looking for a new school building but I will talk to the Minister about that another time.

In March this year I raised the need for a review of mental health guidelines and supports in schools with the then Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Richard Bruton. I talk to primary school principals and teachers on a regular basis to get a sense and understanding of what they are experiencing in schools. Teaching staff are under pressure to solve their pupils' problems. Often this involves referring students for psychological supports in schools and in the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, for which there are lengthy waiting lists. Teachers highlight the lack of supports for young people outside of schools in the child and adolescent mental health services and in community psychology care. When children do not get the necessary supports their issues fall back to the school. Often it is the teachers and principals who become active on the front line in dealing with young people and their mental health problems and challenges.

We know that 50% of those with mental health problems develop them before they turn 14 years of age. One student in four suffers from mental health problems.

However, if those students come from minority groups, whether they be Travellers, people with disabilities, refugees or the LGBTQ community, those ratios increase fairly significantly and if they come from a number of those categories, they increase even further. It is important that appropriate resources are put in place to support the parents, students, principals and teachers.

I want to raise the increasing mental health issues of very young people in terms of digital safety. I have spoken to teachers and principals about that but we have seen research on it from America and the United Kingdom. Students are starting school with speech and language issues but, physically or mentally, there is nothing wrong with them. They are simply not used to speaking. They start school with vocabulary issues for no other reason than they are stuck on their laptops, iPads and iPhones. They are not developing the necessary vocabulary that would previously have occurred. There is research which shows that if one assesses a five year old's vocabulary, one can predict their likelihood of employment in their 30s. That does not necessarily follow if appropriate intervention is put in place, but there is research that shows that. If young people are behind when they start school, they rarely catch up. The research shows that the gap widens. That is why there is a necessity for proper intervention.

In terms of dealing with the issue of young people's mental health, we need to teach parents, teachers and students how to recognise mental health issues, develop awareness around them, how to help them develop the confidence to speak openly about them, and develop coping skills and resilience to deal with them. The reality is that, in general, young people today probably do not face the same type of crises people might have faced 50 or 60 years ago. We need to teach them those resilience mechanisms.

Young people today are exposed to things that previous generations would not have been exposed to until at least their teenage years or even older. They are seeing extreme violence, pornography and all sorts of images on the Internet, and that is having a profound effect on young people. That emphasises the importance not just of well-being programmes but critical metal health interventions for young people and their teachers.

It has to be more than goodwill, however. It cannot be simply about putting all these mental health appropriate interventions onto the shoulders of already overburdened teaching staff. It has to be backed up with appropriate resources and referral pathways so that teachers know how to spot issues with young people and know how to deal with them and to where they should be referred. It is important also that when students are referred for help, that those supports are available.

In terms of community psychological services, which I appreciate does not come under the Minister's Department, in my county of Wexford, there is a 34-month waiting list for a child to see a community psychologist, and no urgent cases are being seen. That has a knock-on effect on the Minister's Department because those children are not getting the supports they need. They are going to school and they will have challenges on which teachers will have to support them. I would like to see greater interaction between the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Health, in particular the section dealing with mental health, to see how these issues can be appropriately and effectively addressed.

It was reported about a year ago that Ireland has one of the worst statistics in the developed world for depression causing young people to leave school. That shows that the issue of mental health is not being dealt with effectively in schools.

The Joint Committee on Education and Skills report proposes enhancing the links between schools and State agencies to support pupils and teachers alike. I very much welcome that. As I said, ministerial collaboration with the other Departments in terms of mental health is vital. There is huge expertise in the Department dealing with mental health that can be shared with the Department of Education and Skills.

I congratulate the committee for its fine work. I wish the Minister the best with his Department.

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