Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for giving me a few minutes to make a point on the allocation made by the Department for the mental health of students. Students at various levels are struggling during the Covid crisis. The allocation of €5 million is very worthy and I very much welcome it.

I want to mention UCC and CIT in particular and the number of students going through these institutions. UCC has more than 20,000 students at present. It has an amazing complex. The lack of a counselling service there is a major issue. It would be worth the Department looking into it to ensure that a campus with more than 20,000 students would have a capable counselling service. Will the Minister of State examine this and make sure that we have enough counsellors? They are required given the unusual circumstances we have with Covid. In many ways, students have been pilloried as spreaders of the disease. This is very unfair. They have suffered because of this. They have suffered physically, mentally, emotionally and socially. The lack of a good counselling service on these sites will be an issue. I will leave this with the Minister of State and I hope he will revert back to me in time on what can be done to increase the counselling services on these two campuses.