Results 14,881-14,900 of 17,012 for speaker:Paul Kehoe

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Nov 2022)

Paul Kehoe: I will also come in on that point because I am actually quite interested. We are on the same train of thought. The Deputy can butt in if she wants; I have no problem with that. Professor Downes said there was no shortage of counsellors yet a constituent rang me yesterday and told me the earliest session they can get for counselling is February of next year. Professor Downes said there...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Nov 2022)

Paul Kehoe: I welcome Professor Downes's comments about what this committee and the Minister and Department have done and about the roll-out being in primary schools not in secondary schools, which I will address in a second. No matter what model the Department of Education will roll out, however, there have to be links with the HSE. Professor Downes is forgetting this in some of his answers and in his...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Nov 2022)

Paul Kehoe: Okay. I look at my own county and specifically my own area back home in Enniscorthy, where there is a huge number of rural primary schools. The number of pupils attending each school ranges from 50 up to 200. That is the average for most primary schools in rural Ireland. As you move into the urban centres, you get bigger schools. St. Aidan's Primary School in Enniscorthy is the biggest...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Nov 2022)

Paul Kehoe: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Nov 2022)

Paul Kehoe: My sense is we either give the service or we do not give it, but we do not give half a service.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Nov 2022)

Paul Kehoe: All right. I have some more questions for Professor Downes before I ask Ms Stockham a couple of questions. I will be meeting her on Thursday and Friday so I will not ask her too many questions. Professor Downes spoke about secondary schools and guidance counsellors. Guidance counsellors cannot give the service we are looking for here. They cannot.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Nov 2022)

Paul Kehoe: I do not expect them to either, but they are expected to at the moment. They are expected to offer a full range of services on career choice and everything like that as well as problems and issues pupils might be having personally, but many guidance counsellors and schools are not prepared for that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Nov 2022)

Paul Kehoe: Absolutely. We have home-school liaison officers in many secondary schools and that is welcome. Some of them have told me that they get to the heart of the matter when they get into the home and talk to the parents. It is then that they can identify points, problems and issues that are in the home that they will not identify with the child in the school. I very much welcome that. Does...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Nov 2022)

Paul Kehoe: I have one last question. We have another group outside as well. With secondary schools, we are often afraid to speak of issues around teenagers, sexuality and everything like that, and also suicide. These problems only hit in the teenage years at 15, 16 and 17 years of age. Does Professor Downes feel we need counsellors to meet those types of challenges head on?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Nov 2022)

Paul Kehoe: On the issue of suicide within secondary education specifically, has any research been done showing that if there were such counselling services in place a teenager would talk to the counsellor even when they do not have the confidence to talk to parents, teachers or peers in the school? I ask on the basis that the counsellor is on campus and the teenager is comfortable talking to them and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Nov 2022)

Paul Kehoe: We will be meeting Ms Stockham on Thursday and Friday.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Nov 2022)

Paul Kehoe: How does one go about securing buy-in from students, parents and guardians and the school community?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Nov 2022)

Paul Kehoe: Dr. O'Reilly spoke about issues of identity and so on and approaching them. If a counsellor sees something in a child and he or she knows that something is going on, how does the counsellor approach that person without the student, teacher or somebody coming to the counsellor?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Nov 2022)

Paul Kehoe: I have one last question for Professor Downes. Is there merit in the Dorset model that we can learn from? This is about learning from other jurisdictions and organisations. Professor Downes spoke about the Danish and Dutch models. We can learn so much from them. Can we learn from what they are doing in Dorset? I am conscious that we will visit them tomorrow and Friday.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Nov 2022)

Paul Kehoe: I thank Professor Downes, Dr. O'Reilly and Ms Stockham for coming before the committee. We look forward to spending some time with Ms Stockham on Thursday and Friday. It has been a very interesting conversation and a very productive one in the committee's ongoing work.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Nov 2022)

Paul Kehoe: Yes. No bother. We can do that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Nov 2022)

Paul Kehoe: On behalf of the committee, I welcome Professor Barbara Dooley, deputy president and acting registrar at UCD and chair of the IUA registrars group, representing the Irish Universities Association; Ms Treasa Fox, head of the student counselling service at the Athlone campus of the Technological University of the Shannon, TUS, representing the Technological Higher Education Association,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Nov 2022)

Paul Kehoe: I have a couple of questions for Professor Dooley. She spoke about how mental issues often emerge in early adolescence and peak between the ages of 18 and 20. It is a big step for a student to go from second level education to third level education. Can she identify supports for students who are at risk during that transition that could be of help and assistance? We spoke about...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Nov 2022)

Paul Kehoe: We all make mistakes. Take a deep breath.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Mental Health Supports in Schools and Tertiary Education: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Nov 2022)

Paul Kehoe: Professor Dooley also spoke about sexual consent and the potential it has to cause severe mental health issues for students. A previous group spoke to the committee on this issue. Can more be done in that area in second level to educate people going into third level, including, for those in their mid to late teens, how they manage their sexual orientation? I know time has moved on...