Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the additional preparation he always does in advance of taking a Commencement matter. I appreciate the need for standards. I see that we have those through the Minister of State's reply; of course we do. When we look at the figures, we see that 100 hours of play therapy could be provided for eight children at a cost of €6,000. It is small money in a school. The parents cannot afford it themselves. If they could afford it, their child would not be in a school where they need a hot meals programme. We are getting caught up in the technicalities of a formal programme that is rolled out and has to have a pilot and to be assessed and overseen. I agree with all of that because there are charlatans operating under the guise of psychologists' titles, but we need effective programmes very quickly for the well-being of children. While there is a portal, that portal will rely on parents having to pay for it. We need a mechanism for establishing these programmes. I ask for that message to be brought to the Minister. That is what I am going to campaign for.