Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have increased the budget by 33% since I came to this post four years ago and I believe that a report on supports for mental health for students is required so that we can stop the political point scoring.

Approximately €146.5 million is being provided to CAMHS this year. In addition, €110 million is provided to community-based mental health organisations and NGOs annually, with a significant portion dedicated to supporting young people. Last year, the CAMHS teams allocated 225,000 appointments to young people the length and breadth of the country. CAMHS is always hammered for the work it does but they do phenomenal work for young people and I thank each and every one of the staff for the work they do in supporting that small percentage of young people who need their services.

It is also important to acknowledge that for the first time in the history of the State we now have a dedicated national office for child and youth mental health in the HSE. That is really important. It is a significant development which will improve leadership, operational oversight and management of all service delivery and improvements. Previously, in the HSE, mental health just came under one umbrella. Now I have separated it with a national youth mental health office that will look after young people, which is really important. The office has a dedicated staff as well.

We hear every day about the risks online for our young people and the chair of the committee spoke about that. Cyber Safe Kids was allocated funding under budget 2024 to support two campaigns, namely, Disconnect to Reconnect, and also a pre-Christmas campaign supporting parents to ensure their children have a safe, healthy and positive experience online. Further developments in child and youth mental health, including improved access and reducing waiting lists, continue in line with our national mental health policy Sharing the Vision and the annual HSE national service plan. In June 2023 the Minister for Education announced an investment of €5 million piloting a programme of counselling and mental health supports in primary schools in selected counties. This was referenced twice. This is a very welcome initiative and supplements the mental health supports which are offered by the HSE throughout the country.

Strand 1 of the counselling in primary schools pilot sees direct counselling supports being provided to primary schools for the first time across seven pilot counties. Strand 2 involves the introduction of education well-being teams, which includes a lead national educational psychology service, NEPS, psychologist and education well-being practitioners, to provide enhanced in-school supports for primary schools in four cluster areas. The education well-being practitioner is a new type of support practitioner currently being piloted for this programme in the system. They are working under the close supervision of NEPS psychologists to support the expansion of existing approaches to supporting well-being in our schools. The Minister for Education has also announced supports for well-being and mental health in post-primary schools. The Minister, Deputy Foley, has sought to procure services which will focus on strengthening supports and resources available to student support teams to enhance the well-being and mental health of young people in the school community, with supports developed for students, parents and school staff.

Sharing the Vision, our national mental health policy, sets out a vision for further developments in child and youth mental health, including improved access and reducing waiting lists. Sharing the Vision also endorses the primacy of schools and educational settings as critical to the promotion of well-being.

During the Easter recess, the Ceann Comhairle showed our political will and invited Comhairle na nÓg into the Dáil Chamber. We had more than 160 young people from every single county in Ireland and I came during that recess to speak to them. I was really struck at the time because they spoke about two different things to decide which they would vote on and which was the most pressing issue for them. One of the topics was mental health and the other was examination stress. I was surprised that examination stress won the day but the young people spoke about how difficult it was for junior certificate and leaving certificate students. It was powerful to see every seat of the House full. We do not often see that. Every seat in the House was full and all these young people were engaging and openly talking about their lived and living experience and the challenges they have. It was a powerful message to send out that we are listening to young people.

Two main education actions being progressed under Sharing the Vision include the implementation of the well-being policy statement and framework for practice in all schools and centres for education across Ireland, and the development of a protocol between the Department of Education and the HSE on the liaison process that should be in place between primary and post-primary schools, mental health services, and supports such as NEPS, GPs, primary care and specialist mental health services to facilitate referral pathways to local services and signposting to such services as necessary.

Student voice and participation is so important. We need to listen to our young people, as we did. I am delighted to say that the student participation unit was established in the Department of Education in April 2023. The unit promotes the participation of children and young people in the development and implementation of education policy. An implementation plan for Cineáltas, which is the action plan on bullying, was published by the Department of Education in April 2023 and commits to implementing each of the 61 actions within a five-year period. Oide is an organisation that provides professional learning opportunities for teachers and school leaders, which promotes inclusive practices across a broad range of subject areas that include all areas of well-being. NEPS, in addition to casework for individual students, offers training and guidance for teachers in the provision of universal and targeted evidence-informed approaches and early intervention to promote children's well-being, social, emotional and academic development. NEPS delivers programmes such as Incredible Years; a classroom management programme; friends resilience programme; trauma informed practice; responding to critical incidents eLearning course; embracing diversity; welcome to our school; reluctant school attendance; and self-harm - guidance for staff. Other supports in the schools and higher education sectors include the home school community liaison scheme which is currently implemented in DEIS urban primary and DEIS post-primary schools, encompassing a total of 693 schools and catering to approximately 207,000 pupils. In addition, ten new home school community liaison co-ordinator posts serving 14 non-DEIS post-primary schools with high numbers of Traveller and Roma students were created in 2022 using Dormant Accounts funding.

Of the more than €180 million spent each year on the DEIS programme, €35 million is spent on home-school community liaison co-ordinators. With the number of special needs assistants now exceeding 21,000, work has commenced on the first SNA workforce development plan. The plan is being developed in consultation and collaboration with stakeholders including SNAs, school management bodies, unions, schools, parents and children. In further education and training, the FET mental health framework was officially launched in March 2023. It will develop a basis to provide guidance to FET institutions on how they can support learners and respond to mental health and wellbeing-critical incidents in a consistent, planned and structured way.

In 2024, more than 30 projects in ETBs were accredited for innovative mental health promotion work across a variety of settings such as Youthreach, outdoor education centres, FET colleges and community education settings. Learners can also avail of psychological supports from qualified ETB staff, where available. As part of its broader sectoral objective of supporting students on their journey to success in and through higher education, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science has provided just under €21 million in funding for this area through the Higher Education Authority to institutions since 2020. This funding is for higher education institutions to meet the mental health and wellbeing needs of their student population and implement the national student mental health and suicide prevention framework. In 2022, an additional €900,000 was made available to support Ukrainian students registered in Irish institutes of higher education who are in Ireland under a temporary section 60 order. The ending sexual violence and harassment in higher education institutions implementation plan was developed to address the recommendations that emerged from the national surveys of staff and student experiences of sexual violence and harassment in Irish HEls. More than 70,000 first-year college students participated in a consent workshop between 2019 and 2022, and more than 1,500 staff members and student leaders have been trained as workshop facilitators.

The achievements and progress I highlighted are by no means an exhaustive list. Much more is happening throughout our schools, colleges and health settings to support the mental health and wellbeing of our children and young people. I wish to talk about one such initiative close to where I live. I will not name the national school. Some of the children were attending a family resource centre in Waterford city. For many reasons, the children were not always able to make the appointment or the parents were unable to bring them. The school set up a nurture room. The person from the family resource centre attends the nurture room and the children are seen. There is no stigma. The children just believe they are going for learning supports. It has made such a difference. I compliment the family resource centres which do phenomenal work every day in psychotherapy, talk therapy and colouring therapies. They provide endless supports to many families. There are so many people across our education and health systems who deserve credit for their tireless efforts in supporting our children and young people. I acknowledge their continued dedication and focus on that work as we all navigate the complexities of our times.

Again, I thank the committee and the Chairman for their report and recommendations. I hope it is evident from what I have highlighted that the report’s recommendations are not mere words on paper but actions which this Government is actively addressing. Our children deserve nothing less. Regarding Deputy Clarke's comments, I am of the opposite view; I believe each and every child can reach their full potential.

See this speech in context