Mental Health Services
Dail Éireann — 2024-06-25
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Mairéad Farrell (SF), Galway West

I will give the Minister some context about why I am asking this question. First, I have met with many different students. This is a key issue that keeps coming up with the students' unions and broadly with the students as well. Galway is a place I know well. A GP came to me and said that because of the lack of adequate mental health supports within the universities, they are seeing a spillover into their own GP practices. That obviously comes at a cost for students and many students do not have access to that. Many students who have spoken to me, and I have asked them about this specifically, have said that they might get an appointment after waiting for a period, but when it comes to getting a follow-up appointment, etc., it just simply is not there.
I welcome that the Minister says this is a priority for him, and I hope we can see this reflected in the budget and through practical, on-the-ground supports in our universities.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2024-06-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:53:07+00:00
Sitting date: 2024-06-25