Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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24. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the funding which will be made available to each of the third level colleges and institutions to address potential mental health issues that may have arisen in students from the Covid-19 situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22957/20]

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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This question relates to the mental health supports that are available to students in the various colleges around the country, particularly in the light of Covid-19 and the extra pressures on young people in terms of their mental health. Studies conducted by USI prior to the Covid-19 outbreak showed that over 25% of students had to wait more than four weeks to see a mental health professional within their colleges. What will be done to make that situation different this year?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Pringle for raising this important matter, which he also raised with me last week during a debate on these matters. This is a very serious issue and as the Deputy is aware, I have allocated an additional €5 million for mental health supports. Admittedly, €2 million of that was a budget day announcement of additional funding and then a further €3 million was announced as part of the Covid-19 reopening plan, giving a total of €5 million more.

In advance of this question, I got a breakdown by institution in tabular form which I will provide to the Deputy. Of particular interest to Deputy Pringle will be the data for Letterkenny Institute of Technology, which has received an additional €171,000 through the Higher Education Authority, HEA. The purpose of this additional funding, recognising that this is a time of great urgency in terms of student supports, is to increase access to counsellors and psychologists, to implement the consent framework and other initiatives identified in the national student mental health and suicide prevention framework. Student counselling services are the dedicated mental health support services available in all of our institutions. They provide psychological counselling to students experiencing personal adjustment, developmental or psychological problems that require professional attention. They assist students in identifying and learning skills that will help them in effectively meeting their educational and life goals.

The HEA has been assisted by a broad range of stakeholders, including the HSE, the National Office for Suicide Prevention, the Union of Students in Ireland, Psychological Counsellors in Higher Education Ireland and institutional representatives, as well as my Department, in preparing the national student mental health and suicide prevention framework, which I intend to publish in the coming weeks. This will provide a further resource, as we start the new academic year, for supporting student mental health. What I am hearing from students across the country is that in general, the quality of mental health supports is very good but as is often the case with mental health, the main issue is access. What we are trying to do with the €5 million is increase the number of professionals in post who can provide services.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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As the Minister himself said, access is the key. There is no point in having fantastic mental health services if only 2% of the students who need them can actually access them. USI conducted a survey on access and prior to Covid-19, over 25% of students were waiting more than four to six weeks for mental health supports, which is over half of a term. That was the situation prior to Covid-19 and we are going to see an increase in demand now, given what has been happening. I am doubtful as to whether the €5 million referred to is an actual increase in funding. What will it actually mean in terms of delivering extra services? I do not think it will come anywhere near what is required when one considers that in terms of the rest of the education budget, we are talking about hundreds of millions of euro. A sum of €5 million for mental health seems to be minimal. I hope I am wrong and that it will benefit students because I believe there will be an increase in demand for services this year. We must step up to the mark and make sure that the demand can be met.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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It is objectively one of the largest increases we have seen for student mental health services in many years but whether it is enough is always a fair question. Do I want to continue to invest more? Of course I do. The Deputy asked what will happen with the funding and what the institutions will do with it and that is a key question. I have outlined in my answer what we want them to do with the funding. We want them to hire more student counsellors and psychologists and to beef up their services in order that students can get better access to what are, generally, high-quality services. We have given an allocation through the HEA to each individual institution and I will provide the Deputy with the full breakdown by institution. There is a degree of local flexibility in terms of what institutions can do because the situation varies from institution to institution. That said, I am not fond of money going into black holes or out into the ether and having to chase it for ever more so we have asked the HEA to report back on how that money has been spent and I will be able to keep the House updated in that regard.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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That is vitally important because we must make sure it meets the needs of the students. Figures from USI indicate that 38.4% of students experienced severe levels of anxiety, 29.9% experienced depression and 17.3% experienced stress. That was in the pre-Covid era so we are going to see an increase in all of that. There is also the added difficulty in reaching students and making services available to them when they are not on campus. We must keep a close eye on this to make sure that the funding provided is actually achieving what it is setting out to achieve. We must monitor it closely because that will be key to service provision.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I assure the Deputy that we will do that. I am more than happy to keep the Deputy and the House updated in that regard.