Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

I thank all my colleagues who have contributed to the debate which has proved very useful. I asserted in the House last night that there would be a 6% reduction in the budget for the NEPS next year and expected the Minister or the Minister of State to tell me I was wrong. We have established, both last night and tonight, as Deputy O'Donnell rightly pointed out, that next year there will be a reduction in the budget of the NEPS. That is a fact. It is the first cutback the Minister can tell the House she is introducing. A service in which she wants to have 200 psychologists in place within two years will have less money next year in its overall budget.

The Minister is a very smart woman but her biggest problem is that she does not listen to anyone. Another problem is that she is never wrong about anything. I would have thought she would have had the good grace to come into the House and apologise for the commitments she gave the House before the last general election. On 13 February she told Deputy O'Sullivan that, "With the extra 31 coming on board this year, we will be able to extend the coverage." On 22 March she informed Deputy Enright: "I have recently been pleased to announce an increase of 31 posts in 2007 in NEPS psychological staffing." On 5 April she informed my friend, Deputy Stagg, following a very insightful question, that:

I announced recently in this connection my intention to expand the number of NEPS psychologists by a further 31 in 2007. This will represent a significant increase in the number of psychologists in NEPS and bring the total number of psychologists in the system to 174.

That was then, this is now and there is no apology. This is the same woman who will receive an extra €38,000 a year for delivering on her commitments, on a key aspect of educational policy.

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