Spending on mental health services by Irish universities tops €6.7m over past two years

Universities in Ireland have spent more than €6.7 million providing mental health services for students over the past two years, with a majority of universities having increased spending in the area compared to previous years.

Financial records released under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act show the total spending on mental health services from September 2021 to March 2023, representing almost two full academic years.

Trinity College Dublin (TCD) spent the highest amount (€1.74 million) on student counselling services, with the total including staff pay and other costs such as travel, equipment and recruitment.

However, this represented a reduction in expenditure on such services by the university, which spent €1.99 million in the academic years from September 2020 to summer 2021 on student counselling.

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The university’s average wait time for an initial assessment appointment has also increased, from 9.6 working days in 2020-2021, to 15 days in the 2021-2022 academic year. But the waiting list for a follow-up counselling appointment reduced from an average of 40 working days to 31 working days.

The counselling service in TCD was “actively working to minimise student waiting lists”, the university said, though its waiting list has been “persistently high since the Covid-19 pandemic as we have found that the intensity of need in the caseload has significantly increased during this time”.

The total number of students in TCD who availed of counselling in 2021-22 was 2,976, and 2,169 in the 2022-23 period.

The University of Galway spent €1.06 million on counselling services over the past two academic years. Its services saw 2,072 students in 2010-22 and 1,677 students the following year, with an average waiting time of eight working days, almost double the time the waiting list took in 2020, which was an average wait of 4.1 days.

Maynooth University spent €971,000 on the provision of mental health services during the past two academic years, seeing a total of more than 3.600. Maynooth “does not operate waiting lists for appointments” and students are “given the next available appointment time, which varies from week to week”, it said.

Busy times

Technological University Dublin (TUD) spent €1.39 million on mental health services in two years. A total of 1,194 students accessed mental health services in TUD in 2021-22 and 974 in 2022-23. The university said the “current situation with regard to the average wait times is that students choose their own initial appointment by registering online and selecting from the available times”.

During less busy times, there would be appointments available in the same weeks, while when demand is higher, it could be “within 1-2 weeks”.

University of Limerick spent €706,394 over the two academic years on mental health services and reduced its average waiting period from 22 days in 2021-22 to “no waiting list” in the past year.

University College Cork said it spent €884,101 on mental health services for students in 2021-22, but could not provide a figure for the past academic year until the financial year was complete. The university did not have any waiting list for accessing support.

University College Dublin and Dublin City University did not respond to requests for information on mental health services they provide for students.