Vol. 532 No. 2
30 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the financial difficulties experienced by those schools which are not covered by the National Educational Psychological Service due to the cost of privately arranging psychological assessments for students with problems; and if he will urgently introduce a grant scheme for this purpose. [6964/01]
There are 80 psychologists serving with the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS. This reflects a welcome expansion as 30 of these have been appointed since the beginning of September 2000 as part of the Government's plan to expand the service . It is intended to appoint up to 20 more psychologists before the end of the school year. It is also intended to proceed with the recruitment of another 28 psychologists later this year. This will raise the staffing from 50 psychologists to some 128 and greatly improve the service.
Most of the newly appointed psychologists have completed their induction programme and are being assigned to schools. The final list of additional schools that will now have access to NEPS is practically ready and visits to those schools will commence during the week beginning 12 March. As each additional psychologist is appointed, more schools will be added to the list. However, I recognise the need for some schools and parents to be able to gain access to psychological assessments in situations where a National Educational Psychological Service psychologist is not available to them. I have requested the management of NEPS to develop a set of proposals aimed at alleviating the situation, pending the time when it will have achieved its full staffing complement. These proposals have just been completed and are now being considered by my Department.
