Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In the recent budget our colleague the Minister, Deputy Norma Foley, secured a budget of €5 million for in-school counselling supports in primary schools. It is fantastic. I hope it will go some way towards beginning to deal with anxiety and the mental health issues that very much came to the fore in our country's young people during the Covid pandemic. A couple of weeks ago I visited Gaelscoil Mhíchíl Cíosóg in Ennis. It is a fabulous school run by Dónal Ó hAiniféin and Sinéad Ní Éigní the deputy principal. Enda Mac Gabhann is the post-holder in the school for mental health and well-being. This is probably unique in Ireland. The board of management is funding three hours therapeutic counselling services per week. This allows 37 students each week to go to a room where Aideen Flynn, a qualified psychotherapist and child play therapist, engages with them. This school should be used as a pilot school for this service. It is using very best practice. This is being funded by the school's own coffers. It believes it can achieve double what it is doing if it was funded. I ask that this be considered by the Government as a pilot school for this very positive measure.

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