Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 1295: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of additional educational psychologists allocated in 2005 to national schools in County Kildare; the number of national schools in County Kildare which still have no direct services; the number of psychological assessments sought through the scheme for commissioning psychological assessments in 2005 in Kildare; and the number refused on the ratio basis. [25890/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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All schools in County Kildare have access to psychological assessments for their pupils, either through the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, directly or through the scheme for commissioning psychological assessments, SCPA. At present, the number of national schools in County Kildare which do not have a NEPS psychologist assigned to them is 61. Under the SCPA scheme to date in 2005, payment for a total of 222 assessments was sought from NEPS by schools in County Kildare, all of which were granted.

As the Deputy will be aware, the number of NEPS psychologists has increased almost threefold from 43 on establishment to 123 at present, including three NDA psychologists serving with NEPS and one psychologist currently serving with another section of my Department. This number does not include five psychologists on career break. On behalf of my Department, the Public Appointments Service recently conducted a recruitment competition for the appointment of educational psychologists to NEPS, with recruitment being targeted in such a way so as to increase the numbers of NEPS psychologists in priority areas. Any increase in the number of psychologists in NEPS must take account of Government policy on public sector numbers. Schools which 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 the 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.