Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 23 Jun 1998

Vol. 492 No. 7

Written Answers. - Psychological Service.

Brian O'Shea

Question:

205 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Health and Children further to Parliamentary Question No. 54 of 25 March 1998, his views on the observations of a person (details supplied) in County Limerick on the reply in relation to the assessment of children. [14783/98]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Cowen)

Responsibility for the provision of routine educational psychological assessments for school children is a matter in the first instance for the Department of Education and Science. As the psychological services provided by the Department of Education and Science to primary schools are still at the development stage and are at present limited to a small number of schools, health boards currently provide some services for school children on behalf of the Department of Education and Science. The primary concern however of the health funded psychological services is to provide assessment and therapeutic treatment for children, adolescents and their families who present with a wide range of emotional, behavioural and psychological difficulties and developmental delay.

I understand from my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, that the planning process for the establishment of a national educational psychological service to provide services for all primary and secondary schools has now been initiated and that the planning group which is to make recommendations on the introduction and development of this service will be reporting to him in the very near future. Thirteen of the 15 qualified psychologists, who are being employed on a contract basis for the duration of a three year project, have now taken up duty, with the remaining two coming into the services in the autumn. These psychologists will work in regional teams under the management of the psychological service in the Deparment of Education and Science. It will clearly take time for the national educational psychological service to build up an increased level of service provision to children of school going age. During this interim period it will be necessary for the developing educational psychological services to work with the health funded services to ensure that the available resources are applied as effectively as possible.