Ms Anne O'Rourke:

We need double the number of educational psychologists to provide a good service similar to other countries. I reiterate that casework, or individual assessment-type work, is only one part of the role of an EP. Educational psychologists have a huge remit. The development of an assistant educational psychologist post would be very helpful. A lot of people who graduate with a degree in psychology from any of the universities in Ireland can spend three to five years on a path or trajectory where they are trying to get a masters in something related to psychology. Whether it is applied behaviour analysis, ABA, or organisational psychology, they are looking for psychologist posts in the universities and CDNTs and so on. If there were assistant educational psychologist posts in NEPS, then there would be a clear pathway for a lot of students to get on the road. It can take five or six years before a student gets a place on the doctorate programme in Mary Immaculate College or Dublin.