Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for being here this morning.

It has been a turbulent January. We had Covid spiking. Now a lot of people are nervous about society re-opening so quickly and that will be stressful for many. We also had the tragic events in Tullamore which rocked us all, as well as tragic suicides. I want to send my condolences to all families affected by loss and premature loss.

This is an opportune time to talk about our mental health and specifically, the resourcing and management of psychologists in the HSE, of which there is a shortage in acute care, in community health teams and in disability and social care. There also needs to be a wider focus, not just on HSE resources, but also on mental health resources in education, higher education, Tusla, the Irish Prison Service and acute hospitals. They all need psychologists and a HSE plan will not take into account the breadth of the resource requirements.

We must address the current shortages while also focusing on the future. A recent Government disability capacity review projected that in 2030 there could be a need for an increase of 107% in the number of psychologists for child disability services alone and a national project office report estimated that there was a need for 500 additional psychologists. That is an enormous number but at the moment, we have only 66 clinical psychologists coming on stream. The additional complication is that even if the allocated funding in this year's budget for additional training places on professional training programmes was to be increased, the psychologists would not be on the front line before November 2025. It takes four years to qualify so whatever we do, we must do it now.

When I raised this issue previously, I was told that a project team was tasked with considering the preparation of a workforce plan for psychological services in the HSE, including an examination of the current framework for training psychologists for the health service and the type and skill mix required for the future. The report would also set out the significance of a review of the current funding model for future psychologists. I note a report, entitled The Report of the National Psychology Project Team: Establishment of a National Psychology Placement Office and Workforce Planning, was published last January. What recommendations contained therein have been implemented or progressed since then? What is the plan?

It was recommended that a placement office be established to make sure that trainee and qualified psychologists are recognised and accredited. That was deemed urgent in 2018. I raised the issue previously of trainee psychologists and the inequity they face in their training. Trainee clinical psychologists are paid €34,000 per year for their placements and get 60% of their fees paid by the HSE but trainee educational psychologists do not, even though they are working side by side. Educational psychologists pay their higher education fees and work for free on the front line in education settings, in the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, and in section 38 organisations.These people work three years for free on the front line and pay to do so, while their colleagues and peers are supported through that period, as they should be. We gave a commitment to review that. It is vitally important that we do not oversee a system that is so difficult to get through. I speak to people who are absolutely committed to their vocation. In the way that I am committed to this job, they are committed to theirs and they have sacrificed so much. They must step away from a career they have invested in because they cannot afford to do this. A recent petitions by the Psychological Society of Ireland was signed by 2,400 people. I hope I will hear a positive update today.