Vol. 513 No. 6
445 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Education and Science the constituencies which have the services of an educational psychologist for primary schools; the constituencies that will be added to this list in 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3380/00]
The principles for the geographical distribution of psychologists of the National Educational Psychological Service – NEPS – agency were outlined in the report of the planning group for NEPS. This was accepted by the Government in February 1999. In line with the recommendations in the report, psychologists are assigned to regions corresponding to the regional health boards, rather than to constituencies. This is in order to facilitate communication and collaboration with clinical services for children. As soon as there is a sufficient number of psychologists within each region, they will be further organised in small local teams near to the schools that they serve. It is envisaged that eventually there will be a team assigned to practically every county.
At present, educational psychologists are assigned to primary schools as follows: Eastern Health Board region – schools designated as disadvantaged in the city of Dublin, plus 16 schools in north County Dublin, 13 schools in south County Dublin, six schools in west County Dublin, 25 schools in County Kildare and 17 schools in County Wicklow; Midland Health Board region – 20 schools in County Offaly; Mid-Western Health Board region – schools designated as disadvantaged in the city of Limerick, plus 26 schools in County Clare, six schools in County Limerick and 25 schools in north Tipperary; North-Eastern Health Board region 24 schools in County Louth and 15 schools in County Meath; North-Western Health Board region – 30 schools in Sligo-Leitrim; South-Eastern Health Board region – all schools in South Tipperary; Southern Health Board region – schools designated as disadvantaged in the city of Cork, plus 28 schools in County Cork, and Western Health Board region – 23 schools in the city and county of Galway and 31 schools in County Mayo.
A competition for recruitment to the National Educational Psychological Service agency is currently being organised by the Civil Service and Local Appointments Commissioners. This is now at a very advanced stage, and it is envisaged that there will be approximately 50 additional psychologists in post by the end of this year. This will make a substantial difference to the level of service available in all areas of the country.
The general principles for deployment of additional staff have been agreed by the management committee of NEPS, in consultation with the NEPS national policy advisory board, which is representative of the main client groups. They have agreed that, after current vacancies have been filled, each new cohort of psychologists should be distributed between all regions, on a pro rata basis, according to the pupil numbers in each region. The ultimate target is that, by the end of the development phase of NEPS, end 2004, all schools will have ready access to educational psychologists.
