Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 December 2022
122. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science his plans to ensure that clinical, educational and counselling psychologists are all able to become fully qualified with funded MAs, PhDs and necessary placements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59754/22]
View answerMy Department is strongly committed to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of the population through the provision of graduates with the key competencies and skills to be effective in the health workforce and support a range of clinical teams in our mental health services.
In this context, the Department is engaging on an ongoing basis with the Department of Health, the Department of Education and other relevant stakeholders with regard to how the further and higher education system can best support workforce planning for the delivery of essential public services.
My Department understands there is a longstanding arrangement in place under which the HSE recruit Trainee Clinical Psychologists and sponsor their training in order to encourage employment with the HSE of suitably qualified professionals. This arrangement now includes Counselling Psychologist in the last budget and is made by the HSE and is not the responsibility of my Department. The question of any costs associated with increasing the number of such funded places are matters for consideration by the appropriate recruiting bodies.
A working group in the Department of Education has been examining the matter of how the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) can continue to recruit adequate numbers of suitably qualified staff and continue to respond to the educational psychological needs of children in recognised primary and post-primary schools across the country.
The group has agreed on a number of actions that must be taken to address supply issues in the medium to long term. These include the development of a workforce plan for educational psychologists within the Department of Education and work has begun with other Government Departments to advance this.
