Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the fact that every school will have access to a psychologist. One of the issues that came to my attention is that when NEPS personnel come to a school, they can only carry out so many assessments. A maximum of three students can be assessed at any one time. Some schools have more than three students awaiting an assessment by NEPS personnel and I wonder if the Department has plans to address it. The earlier a child receives the assessment and has the resources put in place, the better the educational outcome for the child. Do we have figures or information on the number of students awaiting a NEPS assessment and how quickly the students can be reached?

In one case, a student is waiting over three months for a NEPS psychologist to carry out an assessment of the child. Teachers have written to NEPS to try to get the process speeded up. I understand there are only so many personnel and students but I wonder what is the average waiting time facing students.