Vol. 517 No. 4
256 Mr. U. Burke asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of new appointments of education psychologists made in 1999; the number required to provide an adequate service; the number on waiting lists at present; and the number of psychologists to be appointed in the current year. [10078/00]
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, which will double the present number of psychologists in NEPS. No new appointments of educational psychologists were made in 1999.
The planning group set up by my Department in 1997 to examine the level of need for an educational psychological service and to make recommendations for the future, recommended that 200 psychologists would be required to provide a psychological service to all schools. As recommended in the report of the planning group, it is envisaged that there will be a fully operating psychological service to all schools at the end of a five-year development phase, i.e. by the end of the year 2004.
