Vol. 537 No. 5
562 Mr. Killeen asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of educational psychologists available to primary schools in County Clare; the number of schools which do not have access to the service; the waiting period for students in need of the service; the plans he has to appoint additional personnel; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16781/01]
The National Educational Psychological Service Agency has so far assigned one psychologist to County Clare. This psychologist currently provides a service to 26 primary schools in the county. Most of these are located in the areas around Ennis and Shannon. Almost 100 primary schools in the county do not yet have access to the NEPS service.
The new NEPS agency came into existence on 1 September 1999 with the 42 psychologists already employed in the service. The recruitment of additional psychologists involved the organisation of a competition through the Civil Service and Local Appointments Commission. Notwithstanding the time consuming nature of such competitions, there are now 82 psychologists in NEPS and by the end of the school year there will be 100 psychologists in the service. I also intend to proceed with the recruitment of a further 28 psychologists before the end of this calendar year. This will raise the staffing to 128 and greatly improve the service.
The pace of recruitment of psychologists to work in the mid-western region has been slower than that in some other areas. NEPS has therefore identified the region as a high priority for assigning psychologists from the next competition, which will take place later this year. It is envisaged that there will ultimately be five NEPS psychologists in County Clare.
I am anxious that children who attend schools not yet served by NEPS should not have to wait until the psychological service is fully developed before having access to psychological assessments. I have therefore made £1.25 million available to NEPS for a scheme to fund assessments carried out by private practitioners. NEPS will be writing to all schools before the end of the month with details of how to apply for the scheme.
