Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In June 2023 - the Deputy is correct - I was very pleased to launch a €5 million pilot of counselling and well-being supports in primary schools in selected counties. This further supports the range of mental health and well-being supports already provided by my Department and the excellent work already happening in schools in respect of well-being. All of this supplements the mental health supports that are offered by the HSE throughout the country.

The pilot has two strands. Strand 1 sees direct counselling supports being provided to primary schools for the first time. The Department has set up county panels of pre-approved private counsellors providing one-to-one counselling in primary schools in counties Cavan, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Monaghan and Tipperary. In total, 733 blocks of counselling have been allocated to schools across the pilot counties, which provides an allocation to 733 children in these counties. To date, 33 counsellors have been recruited across the seven pilot counties. Strand 2 involves the introduction of education well-being teams to provide enhanced in-school supports for a cluster of primary schools in Cork, Carlow, Dublin 7 and Dublin 16.

Some 15 education well-being practitioners have been recruited to the four cluster areas. They have undergone an intensive training programme provided by NEPS and have commenced visiting and supporting schools in recent weeks. The supports being offered are to pupils, parents, and school staff to support well-being and resilience at a whole-school level.

Separately, to supplement support for the post-primary sector, I recently announced a tender to procure services to further support well-being and mental health in post-primary schools. The tender will invite suitable providers to work with the Department to develop and deliver additional supports to complement existing systems and structures in post-primary schools for well-being and mental health.

As the Deputy knows, the provision of counselling to children is a serious and a sensitive matter. As there is no single recognised counselling qualification and no national regulatory body for counselling in Ireland, at this point in time, we are accepting applications from counsellors accredited with six accrediting bodies for counsellors in Ireland, who met the requisite criteria for this pilot project. This is to ensure that the counsellors have the appropriate training and skills to engage ethically, professionally and effectively with this vulnerable age group.

Counsellors are available to work in all seven counties of the pilot and my Department continue to accept applications from counsellors on an ongoing basis. We are hoping that more counsellors will be added to the panel in the coming weeks. Two counsellors were available to work in Leitrim. I am delighted-----

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