John Ellis
Question:222 Mr. Ellis asked the Minister for Education and Science when his Department will appoint an educational psychologist to serve County Leitrim in view of the urgency of this being provided. [13780/00]
Written Answers - Psychological Service.
There are currently four psychologists from the national educational psychological service – NEPS – working in schools in County Leitrim. All post primary schools in the county have access to the psychological service, as have a number of primary schools. The Deputy will be glad to know that I am providing additional posts to greatly expand this service nationally.
As part of this expansion, the Civil Service and Local Appointments Commission is currently completing the process of recruiting additional suitably qualified psychologists. As a result, my Department expects to be in a position to appoint up to 50 additional psychologists during the current year. This will double the present number of psychologists in NEPS.
It is planned to organise NEPS in ten regions, corresponding to the health board regions. The overall allocation of psychologists to regions will be largely based on the projected student numbers in each. In the interests of equity, it is proposed that each cohort of psychologists will be shared among the regions on a pro rata basis, until each region has reached its target staffing quota.
John Ellis
Question:223 Mr. Ellis asked the Minister for Education and Science when his Department will appoint an educational psychologist to serve County Sligo in view of the urgency of this being provided. [13781/00]
There are currently two psychologists from the national educational psychological service – NEPS – working in schools in County Sligo. All the post primary schools in the county have access to the service, as have a number of primary schools. The Deputy will be glad to know that I am providing additional posts to greatly expand this service nationally.
As part of this expansion, the Civil Service and Local Appointments Commission is currently completing the process of recruiting additional suitably qualified psychologists. As a result, my Department expects to be in a position to appoint up to 50 additional psychologists during the current year. This will double the present number of psychologists in NEPS.
It is planned to organise NEPS in ten regions, corresponding to the health board regions. The overall allocation of psychologists to regions will be largely based on the projected student numbers in each. In the interests of equity, it is proposed that each cohort of psychologists will be shared among the regions on a pro rata basis, until each region has reached its target staffing quota.