Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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66. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on the expansion of mental health service across third-level institutions. [26569/24]

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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I want to ask about the expansion of mental health services across third-level institutions. This is of huge concern to students at this moment in time, particularly because they are facing very long waiting lists to see a service. When the amount of mental health supports are compared with the number of students in the universities, they just do not seem to be adequate at this point. What are the plans in that regard?

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Farrell for raising this important issue. We had quite a good discussion with regard to disabilities in the previous session. This session has been dominated by the issue of accommodation. I am glad this issue has been raised because I have a particular interest in it.

Well-being and student mental health are priorities for me and the Department. Higher education institutions receive funding from a variety of different sources that contribute to the provision of mental health supports to students, including through recurrent funding allocated by my Department through the Higher Education Authority.

Recognising the pressures on students arising from Covid and cost-of-living issues since 2020, the Department has provided a total of €20.9 million in additional funding to HEIs to support mental health measures for students on their educational journey. This funding is also provided to support the implementation of the national student mental health and suicide prevention framework. Institutions in receipt of this funding are encouraged to distribute it in support of specific student-facing areas, including the recruitment of additional student counsellors, assistant psychologists and head of service posts; training of staff to enable them to support and refer students to appropriate services; and raising awareness among students of mental health and well-being services that are available, including through student outreach activities. The majority of new posts created through this funding have been counsellors, reflecting the capacity building phase of the implementation of the framework. Institutions have reported a breadth of positive impacts, from a reduction in engagement times to an increase in the number of sessions being provided to learners, which is the most important thing.

The further education and training strategy for 2020 to 2024 recognises the importance of supporting learners in mental health and well-being and commits to embedding it in professional development for staff and in the curriculum for learners. Mental health and well-being supports are a condition of funding within the annual funding requirements set out by SOLAS for the ETBs. SOLAS and the further education sector are committed to supporting all learners by providing high-quality, more inclusive, and flexible education and training programmes, including mental health support. I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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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.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. To give some examples, the higher education institutions received €5 million for this. The Atlantic Technological University, which has a very substantial campus in Galway, in 2023 received an allocation of €431,667. The University of Galway received an allocation of €316,438. We all have the same objective here. I have been in Deputy Farrell's and the Leas-Cheann Comhairle’s city on more than one occasion. I was doing a totally different job there. I was there as part of my previous role and I was with engineers from Galway City Council and others. I am acutely aware of one particular part of the city that, unfortunately, has claimed so many lives. Whether these have been visitors, students or locals, I am very conscious of that.

This is not something that is unique to one particular part of the country. This is an issue that we can, thankfully, now discuss in an open forum and that has been destigmatised over many years. There is a lot of work left to be done on this. The higher education institutions have a role in this. I respect their autonomy in this, but I am prepared to support them and it is my intention to support them further as we move on in the budget discussions that are coming up.

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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There was a problem with the Minister's predecessor who had a habit of making reannouncements. I have mentioned it before and I saw it regarding mental health supports and the funding for them - unfortunately, I cannot get the figure, although I tried to search for it - where there was an announcement as though it was extra, additional funding, but it was actually just the funding that was already baselined and already being used.

I take the figures the Minister is giving at the moment. However, I am just being honest with him when I say that there is currently just not enough for students and they are saying that very clearly. We know there are additional stresses at this time for many students, such as long commutes - anybody who has done a long commute can tell you how it impacts on mental health - and this is because they cannot access accommodation. I am really concerned about this because we need to have the supports in place. I hope the Minister can prioritise this and see what kind of supports can be put in place. If the Minister speaks to the students' unions, they will be able to tell him about this as well.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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This is not an issue that is confined to one part of the country nor is it confined to a conversation between one Deputy and another. This is an issue that we all, unfortunately, come into contact with. It is important to point out this was starting from a zero base. The former Minister, who is now Taoiseach, allocated approximately €5 million per year since 2020. That was to recognise the pressures that were there from Covid, which everybody experienced and which was an absolutely horrific period of time. That has been maintained. Is there scope for it to be grown? Obviously, every health service, mental and otherwise, has scope to grow. I have competing demands, but it is something I feel is very important. We can now, thankfully, discuss it in a forum whereas maybe 30 years ago this would have been unheard of. It is refreshing that this is the case, and more definitely needs to be done with it.

The HEIs have their own resources as well, in particular, the older universities - I hate calling them that. I would like to see them doing more in this space as well. Obviously, for those that are financially challenged, we will be prepared to look at that going forward. However, this will be in the context of the round of the budget, and we have had a lot of competing demands in this Chamber already tonight.