Vol. 547 No. 1
1371 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Education and Science the extent to which psychological assessment and the school psychological services are available to all primary and second level schools in Celbridge, County Kildare; his plans for augmentation in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2634/02]
All second level schools in Celbridge have an assigned psychologist from the National Educational Psychological Service Agency, NEPS, and so have access to psychological assessments. The number of such assessments undertaken is a matter for discussion between school management and the assigned psychologist and is contingent on the number of days which can be allotted to the school in the context of the overall workload of the psychologist.
None of the primary schools in Celbridge is yet in receipt of a service from the NEPS. They are, however, entitled to avail of the scheme for commissioning psychological assessments. I announced funding for this initiative last June. It allows schools that do not yet have access to the NEPS service to commission psychological assessments from private practitioners. The number of assessments per school is determined by the number of pupils, to a maximum of two per 100 pupils enrolled. I recently announced an acceleration of the development of NEPS and it is anticipated that the NEPS service will be available to all schools by the end of the school year 2002-03.
