Vol. 452 No. 8
169 Ms O'Donnell asked the Minister for Education if she will respond positively to the demands for increased resources for remedial teaching and psychological assessment services in primary schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8836/95]
As I recently announced. I intend to allocate an additional 55 remedial teacher posts to the primary school sector in 1995. These posts will be allocated on the basis of priority of need following the collection and analysis of data from primary schools by my Department's primary inspectorate. The needs of all schools will be considered in the context of this allocation. An additional 100 remedial teaching posts were allocated to primary schools in the 1994-95 school year bringing the total number of remedial teachers in place in the primary sector to 1,133.
As far as psychological assessment services in primary schools are concerned, I have begun the extension of such services on a phased basis. Ten additional psychologists are being recruited this year, nine of whom have taken up their appointments since the end of February 1995. They have begun to develop psychological services to primary schools in parts of Dublin, Cork and Limerick. Priority is being given to schools serving disadvantaged areas. A further group of ten psychologists will be recruited later this year in order to continue the extension of the psychological service to primary schools.
