Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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I move:

That Dáil Éireann shall take note of the Report of the Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science entitled "Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education", copies of which were laid before Dáil Éireann on 25th January, 2023.

I am grateful to the House for providing the opportunity to debate this important motion on the Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science report on mental health supports in schools and tertiary education. Mental health issues among young people have increased exponentially in recent years. By the way, I should have said I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and thank her for being before the House to listen to this very important debate. Young people have had to face unprecedented challenges, such as the recent pandemic, an increase in social media pressures, artificial intelligence threats, academic and societal expectations and global uncertainty. The joint committee identified mental health supports in schools as a matter of national concern warranting examination in a considered and sensitive manner. This comes on foot of earlier work carried out by the committee, including the joint committee's 2021 report on school bullying and the impact on mental health and the 2022 report Leaving Certificate Reform: The Need for a New Senior Cycle. As a starting point, we acknowledged that early intervention and prevention are fundamentally important in reversing this trend. Children and young people should be given the tools and supports that help build resilience and promote positive mental health. The joint committee agreed to produce a report to examine how a fit-for-purpose mental health programme can be implemented in all schools and tertiary education institutions. While the report focuses primarily on student supports, it recognises the need to support the entire school and tertiary education communities.

We identified the following key areas for examination: primary and post-primary school mental health supports, to include counselling provision; further and higher education mental health supports, to include counselling provision; co-ordination of services and the establishment of links between HSE services and the education system; student engagement and peer supports; teacher training and continuous professional development, including relevant staff in tertiary education; and international experience and best practice.

The committee received almost 50 written submissions from a wide range of stakeholders. This written evidence proved immensely helpful in preparing this report. The committee met with key stakeholders, including parent and management bodies, relevant unions and psychological representative bodies. It also met with other relevant organisations and individuals, including organisations with well-being supports for young people. Most importantly, we heard the voices of young people themselves.

Ms Angelica Foley, Irish Second Level Students Union; Ms Sarah Behan, Union of Students in Ireland; Ms Annie Sheppard, Mr. Darragh Rawson and Ms Molly Hynes, students at Coláiste Bhríde, County Wicklow; Mr. Ryan Sharpe and Ms Tami O'Leary, an alumnus and a student of the Cork Life Centre; and Mr. Hugh Ahern, student at Patrician Academy, County Cork, assisted the committee greatly by sharing their perspectives and experiences.

The committee met with academic staff from the national Anti-Bullying Centre and the Centre for Educational Disadvantage in Dublin City University, DCU. I would like to thank those in DCU for their continued engagement and for once again readily sharing all their experience expertise.

A committee delegation travelled to Dorset in the UK for a study visit organised by the Dorset National Health Service child and adolescent mental health service. The purpose of the visit was to find out about an NHS mental health supports model that is on site in schools.

The findings show clearly that there should be a direct link between the HSE CAMHS, the HSE therapeutic services and primary and post-primary schools. Ideally, these supports need to be on-site in schools. This model is the preferred option to ensure early intervention and prevention. More acute cases will then have a direct pathway into CAMHS.

It is also important that mental health education is provided on-site in schools through workshops, etc., to ensure all students understand mental health issues. This will give all students the tools to cope better with and help friends who may be struggling with their mental health. As public representatives, we have all dealt with different cases of how this might happen.

These proposed measures will go a long way towards reducing stigma and promoting a whole school culture that is empathetic, kind and supportive. The pilot initiative to provide counselling supports by the Minister, Deputy Foley, is very welcome. However, it must be on-site and it must include post-primary schools. It does not make sense to have therapeutic counsellors available to children until they reach post-primary school only, which is a challenging transition period for all children but more so for those who are vulnerable. To deny them these supports as they enter adolescence is neither wise nor cost efficient in terms of future mental health issues.

Arising from this, the committee examined the evidence heard and the submissions received and drew up this report containing concrete and feasible recommendations. The committee genuinely believes that these can be implemented without delay and will have a transformative impact not only on the mental health and well-being of our children, but also for generations of children to come.

I would like now to speak in overview about some of the ten key recommendations contained in our report and about progress on their implementation. The committee believes that a whole-of-government approach to youth mental supports is critical. In this regard, we have been pleased to note the publication by Government in November last year of Young Ireland: the National Policy Framework for Children and Young People 2023-2028. This new framework identifies areas which require action across Government. It includes a focus on child and youth mental health and well-being, which will be underpinned by Ireland’s national mental health policy, Sharing the Vision. We believe that the Department of Education’s pilot counselling supports for the primary schools programme should be significantly expanded. Indeed, and pending review, this initiative should ultimately be rolled out to all primary and post-primary schools.

It has been apparent to us during our consideration of this topic that there is a socio-economic element to mental health outcomes. Children and young people in poverty are at increased risk of mental health disorders. This should influence the continued implementation of this programme. Consideration should be given to increased resource provision for DEIS schools as a preventative measure. An important initial step has been the Department of Education’s announcement in June last year of a €5 million pilot scheme to fund counselling and mental health supports in primary schools in selected counties. We have also been pleased to note the Minister for Education’s recent publication of a tender to procure services to further support well-being and mental health in post-primary schools.

The committee has recommended that school and tertiary education libraries should be designated as places of sanctuary. The evidence we have received on this area has been clear. Libraries have the potential to foster creativity, flexibility and resilience. They are a safe haven and calm spaces where students can have respite and room to develop. The Department of Education has confirmed that library space is now being provided as standard in all new primary and post-primary school buildings, as well as under some school renovation projects. This is a welcome step in the right direction, but much more remains to be done. I know that this is a serious commitment by the Government from some of the conversations I have had at committee with the Minister.

There is also ongoing progress on digital learning and child literacy. This includes the publication last week of a new youth literacy and numeracy strategy for the 2024-33 period. We regret, however, that this new strategy fails entirely to mention the value of school libraries and librarians. I think that this can be revisited and the situation of school libraries and librarians can be very much included in the numeracy strategy.

The report makes it clear that there is a need to ensure sufficient middle management capacity to deal with student issues, both in primary and post-primary settings. The provision in budget 2024 of funding for an additional 500 posts of responsibility at both primary and post-primary level for the 2024-25 school year makes a significant contribution to this objective.

I have already spoken about the committee’s engagement with the NHS and the UK model of providing mental health supports on site in schools. Consideration of providing similar on-site services in Irish schools has been one of our key recommendations. We acknowledge the recent publication by the Minister for Education of a tender to procure services to further support well-being and mental health in post-primary schools. This is with the intention of strengthening the supports and resources available to student support teams in order to enhance the well-being and mental health of young people in the school community, with supports developed for students, parents and school staff. The committee is committed to ensuring that these, and indeed all of the report’s key recommendations, continue to be implemented as expeditiously as possible.

I will end by saying that I am very honoured and proud to stand here today and speak on this issue in Dáil Éireann, our national Parliament, regarding young people and their futures. I acknowledge the great input by all of the committee members to this report. Young people are the generation that will guide and lead this country into what is unarguably an uncertain future. We need to show solidarity with them and give them the supports they very much need and also deserve. Positive well-being should be the goal we strive for here so that all young people can live their best lives. We must ensure that every young person can find a path worth following. They deserve no less. I ask that we collectively work together to ensure that we can strive to give young people every assistance and help they need and deserve.

There is a huge number of post-primary students. One of the biggest issues I found was the transition from primary to post-primary and how some students can really struggle. In the social media age in which we live, a huge number of parents do not allow children to have mobile phones until they leave primary school, while some others could have had a phone for three or four years. This is something that the Government can work on. I welcome the Tánaiste's recent remarks about the issue of abuse on social media. If we do not do something about it now, it will get out of control. We can all see the effects of this on a daily basis. We all have stories of how children feel the effects of social media. A huge amount of this is included in our report. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to discuss this report and having the Minister of State here.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I ask for the Members' indulgence. I notice that according to what is before me we will next hear from the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Butler. The only Member speaking afterwards is Deputy Sorca Clarke and then we are back to the Minister of State. It is a bit disjointed. It might be better to hear Deputy Clarke first and then we can give the Minister of State the additional time. That would be common sense.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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They say it is a rarity but let us prove them wrong, a Cheann Comhairle.

I will start by saying something that will make me and everyone else here sound like an old fogey. The world we knew as children and young people is extremely different from the world that our children and young people are growing up and living in. It is up to us to support them when they need it, to build resilience and to ensure that they have the strength when they need to call upon it. It is also important that a safety net is there to catch them when they fall, because they are still children and young people and most of them will fall at some point. This report is excellent. It really displays quite clearly the time, effort and consideration that all members of the committee - which was before my time, so I am not singing my own praises here - put into this. Highlighting this as a national issue that warranted examination by producing a report with such condensed recommendations that should be taken as a to-do list is a credit to the committee.

While some action has been taken, action has not been taken on all of the recommendations. While some have been implemented on a pilot basis, they have not been reviewed and therefore the outcomes of any review have not been acted on by the Government. More needs to be done. I think we can all agree on that. However, over the past number of years, the Government has been sitting on its hands when it comes to youth mental health. This now needs to be made a priority. We know the resources are available to make it happen but we have yet to see the political will to actually put it in place. Any funding announced for school students' mental health and well-being is of course welcome. The recently published tender to procure services for further supporting well-being and mental health in secondary schools is also welcome. However, those announcements are being made at a time parents have paths worn to GPs and other service providers. Parents are nearly at their wits' end to get their children the help and support they need. Students in very real need of help are experiencing difficulties that most of us as adults would buckle under the weight of. Although any additional funding will always be welcome, it is not near what it should be and what it needs to be. It most certainly is not going to cover all of the schools. It presents, in many ways, as another announcement to distract from the very real, hard realities of mental health services for children and young people under this Government.

There has been a failure to prioritise youth mental health, particularly in the light of pandemic restrictions. That should have been very well flagged in the immediate term and actioned in the short term. That said, we must remember when speaking about students and teachers that teachers are not mental health professionals. Many questions need to be asked. Who will be the professionals in that room? How will these schemes be run? What action will be taken to ensure fairness? What will be the criteria for choosing participating schools in any future pilot schemes? Although teachers play a crucial role in identifying signs of children struggling with their mental health, their role is to educate. That comes across very strongly in this report. On page 47 the report cites the NAPD submission:

Additionally, 'engagement of schools with the HSE services is primarily by third party letter through the parent and this lack of direct contact is having a negative impact on the student and the abilities of schools to respond appropriately to support the student in the school.'

It goes on to say on the same page, "Many witnesses noted that the lack of direct involvement and CAMHS creates much difficulty for the school and for the student's family." Direct referrals used to take place but since the financial crash there is a system where the parents are left to, "...manoeuvre the web of waiting lists that is out there... there was a time when I could ask for a case conference in respect of a child, where the child was at the centre of the table...". It is explicitly clear that schools want to play their part but they need help to enable them to meet the needs of the children in their classrooms.

The report goes on to say:

A further issue identified was that during the diagnosis phase, mental health services will be engaged with the school to collect information or perform assessments in situ. However, unless it is provided by the parent or guardian, the results and recommendations of these assessments are not communicated to the school.

That is a cause for great concern. To support teachers, staff and students, services such as NEPS need to be adequately resourced. Sinn Féin recognises the role of educational psychologists and their position in our education system. Only a matter of months ago it was reported that NEPS was down by approximately 20% on its required staffing levels. The service is understaffed and underfunded and it is struggling to meet demand.

Our youth mental health services are in crisis, with waiting lists for CAMHS increasing by eye-watering percentages. The waiting time for community psychologists in some areas can be as much as two years. Each of these children and their families who are desperately waiting on an appointment is being failed. It is a disgrace and it cannot be allowed to continue. These failures mean that early intervention is passing our young people by and that is unacceptable.

The tender for the post-primary school system is welcome but how many more children are going to fall through the cracks over the next two or three years while that gets up and running? What is an acceptable number for us who are tasked with providing that safety net? This is not good enough. Mental health services in schools cannot be done in a silo. This is explicitly outlined in the committee's report. The services must work in tandem because mental health needs do not only exist between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. or during the school term.

Young people deserve better. They deserve a health service that works for them. Schools have made it clear that they want to play a role and help with this. The health service needs multi-annual workforce planning, capital investment and accountability reforms to deliver the service that these children and young people need. Behind every waiting list figure is a young person with hopes and dreams. These hopes and dreams are being denied them because they are never going to reach their full potential without support.

I want to give a very clear example of one such young person in the time remaining to me. I will call him Joe. He is 16 and I had a very long conversation with his dad quite recently. Joe has ASD, ADHD and he struggles with his mental health. Joe's mum passed away in a tragic road accident when he was a few months old. His dad has always done all in his power to help but he is not a professional. His dad remembers Joe being referred to intervention therapies. He followed up with phone calls. Joe has yet to receive any therapies.

He is 16. Nothing is beyond dad in what he will do but he cannot do it alone. Joe, now a young 16-year-old, is not in school nor in training and he is at very high risk of becoming a lost child. Dad is desperate. His family are desperate. Despite them not being professionals, they know there is an urgent need. This young lad, with his whole life in front of him, is in many ways the face of the Government's failure to get a handle on and properly invest in youth mental health. Joe and others like him are paying a very heavy price for that failure.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for the opportunity to update the House on the progress made on supporting the mental health of our children and young people. I thank the Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, for its work on the report Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education. I especially thank the Cathaoirleach of the committee, Deputy Paul Kehoe, for tabling this motion today and for all the work that was carried out. Sometimes people looking in from the outside do not realise the amount of work that goes on in Oireachtas committees, the number of witnesses who come in and the number of hours that are spent down in the committee rooms. As the former Chair of the Oireachtas committee on business, enterprise and innovation, which dealt with a lot of Bills, I know phenomenal work is done in committees.

Our commitment to supporting the mental health of our youth is unwavering. It is our duty to ensure that the well-being and mental health of our young people remains at the forefront of our collective efforts. I acknowledge the concerns related to available supports for young people. These concerns are the concerns of parents, educators and caregivers who want our young people to thrive within our school and college communities but also across society. Schools and colleges play a vital role in the promotion of children and young people’s academic, physical, mental, emotional and social development. Our education system is key to equipping children and young people with the knowledge, skills and competencies to deal with challenges that may impact on their well-being. The report of the joint committee is comprehensive and includes recommendations across several areas of education. I am pleased to update the House on the fact that the Government has taken several steps to support the well-being and mental health of young people and to implement the recommendations since the report’s publication. The work to date spans a number of Departments, which is key, and we all need to work together.

Some of the recent developments include the year-on-year funding for mental health services being increased in budget 2023 to over €1.3 billion in 2024, with a strong focus on investing in youth mental health. On a Thursday evening, I will not be accused of not having the political will.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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It is collective.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for her attendance on a Thursday evening. I recognise a huge amount of work has been done in this area. I acknowledge the work of the Minister of State and that of the Minister, Deputy Foley, in taking on a huge number of the recommendations we made in the committee report. It is heartening for me, as the Chair, and for the committee staff and members when a Minister of State and a Department take on a report and implement a number of the recommendations. I acknowledge that under the Minister of State's leadership, the budget for mental health supports has increased over the years. We all acknowledge that no matter what we put into mental health, it will never be enough. We all want more but I know as a former Minister of State that you have to fight for your budget and funding. You do not just go in and ask and get what you want; you have to prove what you are doing. Once you do your work, you will get your funding increased. I welcome the youth mental health office. It is very welcome in the Department. I am aware of the amount of work needed between the Department of Education, the Department of Health, the HSE and other specific agencies in working together. It is the Department of Education, or the Department of Health and the HSE, which provide services in primary and post-primary schools. I cannot stress enough the importance of extending services to post-primary schools. When the Minister for Education was before the committee recently, we mentioned the Dorset model. The committee went over there to look at it, which was beneficial. It was a two-day trip. We learnt so much. Many of the recommendations in the report came from that visit.

Of the ten recommendations, quite a number have been implemented or are about to be. I agree with the Deputy opposite; it is about measuring how the recommendations work in real terms. That is an important point. The Minister of State spoke about stresses during the junior and leaving certificates. I think everybody in this House has gone through some form of examination and is aware of the stresses and strains that can bring. Even now, while the leaving and junior certificates have changed over the years, they have not really. The stress and strain are still there for students. In our reform of the leaving certificate report, something that came through the whole time was strain and stress on students. We are in a different era. There are different stresses and strains on young people compared with what there was years ago. I appeal to the Department to look seriously at the reform of our examinations system. There is a better and easier way that would come out with the same results. I think we can even do better. It is about change. We must never be afraid of change.

An area prevalent in the report and raised every day on the radio and in talking to school teachers, students or parents is social media. This needs to be prioritised by this and future governments. It can be done by all political parties and none because we are all in the same space on this matter. I would like the Department of Education to work on one policy. I know it is up to different boards of management in schools and principals to work it out. We should stress that we need one policy by which students should not have their mobile phones during the school day. In some schools in my county, students put their phones into pouches, lock them and the phone is not released until that evening. If you go to other schools, you can have it in your pocket and use it here and there. That is wrong. It would be easy for the Minister and Department to have one policy going forward on this issue. Such a policy would be welcomed by all parents and I think students would welcome it too for their concentration levels. We all have mobile phones and look at them. We cannot do without them for two minutes. We look at them to see what is on them. We are adults, so you can imagine what children are like with all these apps and platforms they can use. The Minister, the Department and the Government can work on that issue to have one common policy, even if that is just one thing that comes out of this debate. It is not a specific recommendation in the report, but a train of thought mentioned by everybody was the bullying and everything that happens on mobile phones. I thank the clerk of the committee, Tara, and acknowledge the work of the policy officers from the committee, David, Julian and Peter.

They do a huge amount of preparation work and everything like that. I acknowledge that but, most importantly, the work and input made by the members of the committee to this report is really welcome. As Chair, I appreciate their input. The most important thing is that we are in this Chamber this evening because of the committee report. The Minister of State has taken on the recommendations. Some have been put in place by the Department and that is what committee work is all about. This is not a waste of time. It is not a report sitting on a shelf. The work is receiving attention from the Minister of State and the Department. I again thank the Ceann Comhairle, the House and the Members for allowing us to debate this important committee report.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thank each of the three speakers for their valuable contributions. It is nice, on the part of the officials, to hear Tara Kelly and her team acknowledged for the work they put into this report.