Danny Healy-Rae Urges Action on Mental Health and Apprenticeships
Danny Healy-Rae addressed education, youth opportunities and mental health in a parliamentary speech, urging action to retain graduates and to increase psychiatric and psychological services. He also advocated greater support for apprenticeships and trades, flexible study options, reform of the points system and assistance with the cost of driver licences.
Munster Technical University and local education
Danny Healy-Rae welcomed the Munster Technical University campus in Tralee, saying it is important for the vibrancy of Tralee and to facilitate youngsters from Kerry and nearby Cork.
Staff shortages and mental health services
He warned of widespread staff shortages across health and education, highlighted a six-year failure to appoint a senior consultant psychiatrist to South Kerry and called for more psychiatrists and psychologists. He argued that children and young people need talking therapies and root-cause treatment rather than only medication and described the mental health system as being in a shambles.
Apprenticeships, trades and flexible learning
He praised recent changes to apprenticeships and urged more people to enter trades such as plumbing, electrical work, mechanics, plastering and blocklaying. He said apprentices should be able to take night courses and pursue academic qualifications, and that vocational routes should be respected alongside university paths, especially for rural communities.
Points system and driver licences
He criticised the points system as unfairly driven by demand for places and warned that the cost of obtaining bus and lorry licences prevents many young people from training. He said financial support is needed so young people can access those licences.
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I am glad to get the opportunity to talk in this very important matter in relation to our youngsters growing up and their futures and we have of course and we are educating children and pupils to the highest standard in all universities and I too welcome the Munster Technical University in Tralee since the beginning of last year. It is a big advantage and we needed it for so long and we are glad that we have it now and it is so important for the vibrancy of Tralee and to facilitate the youngsters from Kerry and indeed from Cork as well and all that in Tralee. I too, what I want to talk about as well, we are educating people to the highest standard but we don't seem to be able to hold on to them and there is a shortage of staff in every area, whether it is doctors, nurses or teachers or whatever, we seem to be losing them and they are going abroad and we are looking if some of them come back. But is it pain conditions or what is it Minister, we must get to the bottom of it. We have learned in recent times that the HSE have been looking to appoint a senior consultant psychiatrist to South Kerry for over six years. Well, that is not acceptable Minister, what is wrong? Are we not educating people to be qualified as one of those? And I say as well as psychiatrists, we need psychologists because there must be more. When youngsters, when youngsters are growing from boys and girls into men and women, there are physical changes but they have mental problems as well and it can't be just that you shove a needle into them and give them an injection or whatever they will give them. You must talk to them. You must talk to these people and get to the root of the problem and we need more psychiatrists to deal with those situations and our mental health system is in it in a shambles Minister and surely the government knows it by now. You know, I welcome the changes that you made in relation to apprenticeships and I need to, you know, what we need to do is we need to get more people into the trades. And at the same time allow them to do night courses if they want to get an academic education and if they want to get a master's but they should be able to do their apprenticeship as well. There's nothing wrong with being a plumber or an electrician. And we need them. Or a mechanic or a plasterer or a block layer. We need them. And if they had those trades and we shouldn't be looking down on those people because we need them. And there is an attitude now that you must go to university and maybe not do those things. And maybe not everyone is suited to go to university. And if they were working at home to be good for our rural areas and to be good for them to mind their parents and their families at home and they could be at home and work from home. And like I say to not everyone is made for thought level education and some of the smartest people we know never went to university or to college. The point system then is the other thing. There's people that really want to get into a certain course or whatever but the point system I think is all wrong. It's all about places and if there's more applications the point system the points go up. So I have a few more things just to say in relation to the cost of getting a licence for a driver. We can get drivers whether it is bus drivers, lorry drivers or any of those licences. The cost of getting them young people have to turn away because they don't have the funding and they are not getting help with that. We are very much good.
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