Youth Mental Health and Guidance Services in Secondary Schools: Motion [Private Members]
Seanad Éireann — 2023-06-21
============================================================

Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel

I thank Senator Garvey and her Green Party colleagues for bringing this topic to the floor of the House for debate because it is an important one. I always scratch my head and think about how the Senators on the other side of the House are in government and, as I said here the other day on the Order of Business when we were talking about the number of issues that arise, how those Senators have parliamentary party systems and lots of opportunities to engage. They even have a programme for government. That is not to be critical of Senator Garvey and I thank her for highlighting this issue, about which she is clearly passionate. Certainly, she has spent a lot of energy on it over the past week around the House. Any opportunity a politician gets to bring something to the Chamber is to be welcomed and is right.
Even so, there are questions to be asked. Senator Garvey pointed out a number of the shortcomings and concerns and recognised a number of key issues. She noted with concern the findings of My World Survey 2: The National Study of Youth Mental Health in Ireland, and I too note that concern. In some ways, there are two different issues. Of course, mental health is inextricably linked to education, support services and so on. The Mental Health Reform briefing provided an especially important document about protecting and improving mental health services, not least for our young people. We have a youth homelessness strategy, part of which talks about how we are going to support young people, especially vulnerable ones, in mental health, education and staying in education.
To return to the issue of guidance, there are shortcomings there, but the Government has been in office for three years. It has gone past its halfway stage. It is no longer about what it is going to do but what it has or has not done, and that is on what the Government will be judged. People are in the right space and I do not think anyone is against anything Senator Garvey is proposing. I am supportive of the motion but I am just taking the opportunity, as I said earlier, to raise these issues. I do not just sign on the dotted line for issues; I engage with them. This is a Chamber of parliamentary democracy. I am genuinely supportive of the initiative, but there needs to be a higher focus and questions have to be asked as to why there are not increased supports for youth counselling services and career guidance. Career guidance counsellors do a fantastic job and their remit has grown and grown. Most people in that job are fiercely committed to it and go way beyond the call of duty or their job description. When there is a crisis in a community, whether a mass shooting, which, thanks to be God, we have not had, or a major catastrophe such as that in Creeslough, County Donegal, students go back to school. When there is a major tragedy, young people return to school and the career guidance counsellors kick in there, as do community workers, parish workers and support teams. Young people need all the support and direction they can get, and sometimes the guidance counsellor is that person.
We need more resources. I would be more interested in looking again at this issue in the House in a further three months as a Commencement matter and asking the Minister of State to say where we are on the commitments in respect of the key objectives in the motion. I thank Senator Garvey for bringing forward the motion, keeping the focus on it and highlighting the shortcomings of the Government in regard to it. I hope we will all be able to work together, in a collaborative way, to improve the situation.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2023-06-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:02+00:00
Sitting date: 2023-06-21