Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I add my voice to the congratulations to Senator Clonan. I have followed his work closely and I admire it. I respect him greatly and congratulate all his family and supporters. Senator Clonan will find the friendship he talks about. He will also find a collaboration, which is very important. I certainly notice that more in this House than in the Lower House. I look forward to working with him on the areas of disability and defence, in particular. They are close to my heart, as I know they are close to his.

I raise an issue in the area of mental health that concerns all of us, including practitioners, those who are in need of mental health interventions and those who are working in the area. Successive HSE and Government reports have identified that there is a significant shortfall in the number of psychologists being trained to meet our needs. While there is a crisis now, a bigger crisis is coming down the line.

A 2021 HSE report stated that we needed an estimated 321 psychologists in the mental health services alone. That is without talking of the extra demand needed in education. We must have a plan for increasing the number of training places and associated funding to meet future demands. There is a huge disparity in funding for psychology trainees. Currently, trainee clinical psychologists have 60% of their fees paid and receive a student salary, and rightly so. However, counselling and educational trainee psychologists have to pay fees of approximately €14,000 per year and complete three years of unpaid work throughout the duration of their studies. Many are not able to enter the profession because of the cost. We need to see parity of esteem and support for the two types of psychology. I would like the Minister to come to the House to address this matter and put a plan in place.