The need for emotional therapy and counsellors in schools has been highlighted in a new report on early school leavers in Carlow.
Research was commissioned by the Carlow County Development Partnership in light of a statistics which found the county had one of the highest rates of early leavers in the country.
Bullying and other mental health difficulties were found to be among the main reasons.
Dr Paul Downes from the educational disadvantage centre in DCU contributed to the report and says a shift in national policy is needed to bring about solutions.
Dylan Thomas is an Education Specialist with Carlow county Development partnership who commissioned the research which was published earlier this week.
He says they hope to be able to address the findings now by bringing together all of the stakeholders.
