Vol. 483 No. 6
474 Mr. Currie asked the Minister for Education and Science whether he will ensure the appointment of extra psychologists in order to improve the schools psychological services in north Clondalkin, Dublin 22; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21063/97]
There are currently five psychologists from the Department of Education and Science working in Dublin 22, three of them working in primary schools and two in post-primary schools.
I am aware of the need for an educational psychological service to be readily available to all school children. I have, therefore, established a planning group to prepare proposals for the development of a national educational psychological service. I have asked for its report to be available to me early in 1998. This report, which will inform my long-term plans for the provision of psychological services to schools, will include consideration of issues such as the level of existing provision and will make recommendations for the future.
As an interim measure, my Department, in co-operation with Mary Immaculate College of Education in Limerick, is organising a development project for the expansion of the psychological service to primary schools. The project will last for three years and the process of selecting psychologists for the project has already begun. The needs of children and of schools in Dublin 22 and in other areas will be borne in mind when the new psychologists are being deployed.
