Gerard Murphy (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 66: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of psychologists employed by the NEPS; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12959/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, has delegated authority to develop and provide an educational psychological service to all students in primary and post-primary schools and in certain other centres supported by my Department. A leaflet explaining the NEPS model of service, Working Together to Make a Difference for Children, was issued to all schools in October 2002.

In addition to providing assessments for individual children, NEPS is pursuing a policy of enhancing the skills of teachers in the areas of group and individual testing, programme development and behavioural management. This means that many children's needs can be speedily met without the necessity for individual psychological assessment, although the NEPS psychologists are available as consultants to teachers and parents, thus helping the children in an indirect way. This reduces the waiting times for individual assessment.

The NEPS psychologists address the need for psychological assessments in the schools they serve and provide advice on the identification and screening of children who might need to be assessed. Each psychologist is responsible for a number of named schools and visits each on a regular basis. The school authorities provide names of children who are giving cause for concern and discuss the relative urgency of each case during the psychologist's visits. This allows the psychologists to give early attention to urgent cases and such children will be seen or referred on in a matter of weeks, if not days. Where cases are less urgent, the psychologist will, as a preliminary measure, act as a consultant to teachers and parents, offer advice about educational and behavioural plans and monitor progress.

The complement of psychologists in NEPS has increased from 43 psychologists — 30 in permanent full-time posts and 13 on secondment — on the date of establishment in September 1999 to 128 in January 2005, plus two psychologists on career break. Recruitment of psychologists to NEPS has, until recently, been undertaken by the Civil Service and Local Government Commissioners. The last Civil Service Commission panel of 69 psychologists has been exhausted and the recently established Public Appointments Service is now making arrangements to set up a new panel.

With regard to achieving a better regional spread of NEPS psychologists, under the next recruitment competition for NEPS psychologists, regional panels rather than one national panel will be established. This will allow my Department to give greater priority in filling vacancies to areas with the greatest need.

It should be noted that all schools that do not currently have NEPS psychologists assigned to them may avail of the scheme for commissioning psychological assessments, whereby the school can have an assessment carried out by a member of the panel of private psychologists approved by NEPS, and NEPS will pay the psychologist the fees for this assessment directly. Details of this process, and the conditions that apply to the scheme, appear on my Department's website. NEPS also provides assistance to all schools that suffer from critical incidents, regardless of whether they have a NEPS psychologist assigned to them.