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National Educational Psychological Service Administration

Dáil Éireann Debate, Friday - 6 September 2019

Friday, 6 September 2019

Ceisteanna (313)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

Ceist:

313. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost to provide administrative support for each national educational psychological service, NEPS, psychologist. [35235/19]

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Freagraí scríofa

As the Deputy may be aware my Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychological support to all primary and post-primary schools. This involves direct support in the event of a critical incident, access to national and regional support and development work to build school capacity to support students, access to a NEPS psychologist for responses to queries arising, and access to individual pupil casework via a NEPS psychologist or through the Scheme for the Commissioning of Psychological Assessments. (SCPA).

NEPS is organised on a regional basis with 23 offices and currently with some 187 w.t.e. psychologist staff. It has a Head Office administrative Unit sited within my Department in Dublin.  Direct administrative support is afforded to psychologists within NEPS at a local and national level, within this structure, by some 29 w.t.e. administrative staff.

Ancillary administrative support is provided to NEPS staff by services units within my Department, along with the generality of other departmental staff from, for example, the HR Unit, Finance Unit, etc..

I can inform the Deputy that the NEPS administrative staff budget currently amounts to approximately €1.3m per annum. The unit cost per psychologist of this direct administrative support is therefore some €6,952 per annum.

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