James Breen (Clare, Independent)
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Question 711: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of schools in rural County Clare which have access to educational psychological services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22358/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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All schools in County Clare have access to psychological assessments, either directly through the national educational psychological service for those schools served by national educational psychological service, or through the scheme for commissioning psychological assessments for those that do not have national educational psychological service psychologists assigned to them.

All schools that do not have national educational psychological service psychologists assigned to them may avail of this scheme, whereby they can commission assessments from a member of the panel of private psychologists approved by national educational psychological service, and national educational psychological service will pay the fees directly to the psychologists concerned. Details of this scheme, including the conditions that apply to it, are available on my Department's website.

The national educational psychological service also provides assistance to all schools that suffer from critical incidents, regardless of whether or not they have a national educational psychological service psychologist assigned to them. The national educational psychological service processes applications for reasonable accommodations in certificate examinations. All rural post-primary schools and 35 rural primary schools in County Clare have national educational psychological service psychologists assigned to them. The complement of psychologists in national educational psychological service has increased almost three-fold from 43 psychologists on establishment to 127 psychologists.

On behalf of my Department, the Public Appointments Service is running a new recruitment competition for the appointment of educational psychologists to the national educational psychological service and priority will be given to filling vacancies in the mid-western and north-western regions.