Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"notes:

all schools have access to psychological assessments for their students, either directly through the National Educational Psychological Service or through the Scheme for Commissioning Private Assessments;

the number of NEPS psychologists has trebled since the service was established to 134 at present; and

in the 2006-07 school year, NEPS paid for some 4,400 private assessments;

welcomes:

the Government's commitment to increase the number of NEPS psychologists to 200 by 2009;

acknowledges:

while the recruitment process for the 2007 vacancies has taken longer than expected, it is under way with a view to filling the remaining positions as soon as possible;

further notes:

the enhancements in speech and language services being planned by the Government and the commitments in the Programme for Government in that regard; and

supports:

the Government's determination to promote positive mental health for children and young people through a range of initiatives, including through education, health, sport and community services; and

the Government's commitment to implementing the recommendations of the National Strategy for Action on Suicide Prevention with a view to reducing suicide rates."

One of the Minister of State, Deputy Devins's key functions is to promote the co-ordinated delivery of services in the health and education sectors to people with disabilities and special educational needs. In that respect, he has a key role to play in the context of access to speech and language therapies. He will address the points raised in the Private Members' motion about those services and also deal with the issue of youth suicide which falls within the mental health aspect of his portfolio. I will focus on the issue of access to educational assessments.

I welcome the opportunity to outline to the House the progress made in this area. It is important to set out the wider context on developments in special education in recent years to explain how the role of psychological assessments has evolved in line with other developments. Since the Government decision in 1998 to provide for an automatic response for children with special needs, the number of staff working solely in the area of special education has grown exponentially. There are now over 6,000 primary school teachers working directly with children with special educational needs compared with fewer than 1,500 in 1998. At post-primary level, over 2,450 whole-time equivalent teachers support special needs students compared with just 200 in 1998. The number of special needs assistants has increased from a mere 300 in 1998 to over 8,800 this year. With this dramatic increase in staffing — there are now over 17,000 people working solely with children with special educational needs and learning difficulties — children with special needs are getting far better support than ever before to help them reach their potential. Since reference was made to children with autism, it is worth noting that there are now over 270 units for such children. In the past year alone 75 additional new units have been set up.

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