Rory O'Hanlon
Question:593 Dr. O'Hanlon asked the Minister for Education when a person (details supplied) in County Cavan attending school will have a psychological test. [14691/97]
Written Answers - Psychological Service.
The psychological service provided by my Department is currently available to a limited number of national schools, with priority being given to schools serving disadvantaged areas in the cities of Dublin, Cork and Limerick and in South Tipperary. Until the present, the service has not been available to national schools outside those areas.
My Department is now organising, in co-operation with Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, a three year development project for the extension of the psychological service to primary schools. Applications are now being invited, by way of open competition, for 15 educational psychologists on a three year contract. The successful applicants will work in teams organised on a regional basis by my Department's psychological service.
In the long term a planning group has been set up which will report to me early in 1998, and which will inform my long-term plans for a national educational psychological service.
In view of the developments outlined above, it will be possible to arrange in the near future an assessment for the child mentioned in the question.