Pa Daly
Question:887. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Justice the estimated cost of doubling the number of psychologists in the Irish Prison Service. [27608/23]
View answerTuesday, 13 June 2023
Questions (887)
Written answers
The role of the Psychology Service in the Irish Prison Service is to deliver, develop and manage an integrated mental health and criminogenic needs assessment and treatment service for people in custody, in line with service plans and objectives, and within established professional standards, guidelines and policy.
I am informed that the Prison Service currently employ various psychologist grades, including;
• Head of Psychological Services,
• Principal Psychologist Manager,
• Senior Psychologists (Grade I),
• Staff Grade Psychologists (Grade II), and
• Assistant Psychologists - an unqualified grade currently employed on a 2 year fixed term contract.
There are currently 43 staff assigned to Psychology Services within the Irish Prison Service and this includes the Head of Psychology. The estimated cost of employing an additional 42 staff to the psychology service (excluding the Head of Psychology services as you can only have one Head of Function) is *€3,269,501.90
*This figure is inclusive of employers PRSI and based on the relevant up to date salary scales valid from 1st march 2023.