Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I would argue that it is a vital piece of work which we really need to see, probably before the break for the summer.

Career guidance counselling, which really works as emotional support in most schools, is an absolutely vital function. For the longest period of time, it has been completely underfunded and, I would argue, underappreciated. When there was talk of proceeding with the leaving certificate examinations and bringing students back for two weeks beforehand, anybody who has been in an education setting recognised that the majority of those two weeks would be spent providing emotional support to students. Is there a plan to increase guidance counselling hours next year? Under the free education scheme, there are only 48 hours per week for schools with more than 1,000 students and a mere eight hours for schools with 200 or fewer students. Not to be hyperbolic about it, but that works out at approximately 2.24 minutes of career guidance per student each week. As I said, this guidance is mostly emotional support. I cannot place too much emphasis on the importance of that support for students next year.

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