Recent National Media Contributions of Professor Paul Downes on Post-Covid Response, Mental Health and School Attendance
Professor Paul Downes gave a response to Deputy Director General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Mike Ryan's reference to a 'mental health crisis' in children and young people post-Covid pandemic on RTE's national radio Drivetime show on September 12th, 2025 https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22543992/. In his interview, Professor Downes examined a range of impacts of the pandemic on children and young people singling out both mental health and school attendance as particular issues of crisis in Ireland.
He also gave an interview for the Irish Times on September 23rd to highlight the need for specialist emotional counsellors/therapists in DEIS schools and to challenge many wellbeing approaches in schools as inadequate cosmetic substitutes for specialist one to one counselling in school: