Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 99: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide a breakdown per county, the areas currently covered, the amount of psychologists available and the number of posts that are currently filled or remain unfilled by the National Educational Psychological Service. [19250/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I can inform the Deputy that all primary and post- primary schools have access to psychological assessments either directly through the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) or through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA whereby the school can have an assessment carried out by a member of the panel of private psychologists approved by NEPS, and NEPS will pay the psychologist the fees for this assessment directly. NEPS currently directly employs some 174 psychologists stationed in 22 local and regional offices countrywide and assigned to schools in their respective catchment areas. An additional three personnel are due to commence services with NEPS at the commencement of the 2011/12 academic year. The SCPA panel mentioned above currently has 79 psychologists who make themselves available to schools regionally, upon request from school authorities. In regard to commitments within the Programme for Government to further expand NEPS staffing psychologist staffing levels I will be consulting with colleagues within Government in relation to this and other such commitments with a view to the timing of the implementation thereof at which stage I will make my Department's intentions in this regard public.