Mr. Enda McGorman:

The route into educational psychology used to be like that. It was not initially at PhD level but at masters level but funding was set aside with pay to pursue the course. Unfortunately, this scheme is another victim of the cuts and it was never restored. We have forgotten to look back at things that worked well pre the guillotine at the time. The scheme did work. The routes into educational psychology are challenging. We cannot get teachers to stay in this country to teach, therefore, it stands to reason that the same applies to asking them to stay yet give up pay and pay exorbitant fees for the privilege of becoming an educational psychologist and then the challenges of staying within the system because of the demands that are placed on them. We need a root-and-branch review of all entry-level programmes for speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, psychology and right across the board.