The points system and lows rates of third level grants contributed to the considerable levels of stress among teenagers. And this, in part, contributed to a growing suicide rate, according to the team from the Sacred Heart Secondary School, Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, at a schools' debating championship in Dublin at the weekend.
Speaking on the theme "The greatness of a Society can be Measured by its Treatment of the Vulnerable", Sacred Heart won the final of the National Public Speaking Project, organised by the Mental Health Association of Ireland, held at Trinity College Dublin.
Ballyshannon was represented by Eavan King, Eimer Mullia and Anne Finnegan.
The other finalists were Colaiste Abbain, Adamstown, Co Wexford, and Christ the King Secondary School, Cork. Altogether 300 schools took part.
The president elect of the World Federation for Mental Health, Prof Marten de Vries, from Maastricht, and Mr Donal O'Shea, chairman of the Mental Health Association of Ireland, presented the trophies.