Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 1389: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of educational psychologists working in Kildare national schools; the number of schools which have no direct service in the county; the number of educational psychologist here at the end of 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005; and the projected numbers for 2006. [2398/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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All primary and post-primary schools in the country have access to psychological assessments either directly through the national educational psychological service, NEPS, or through the scheme for commissioning psychological assessments, SCPA, full details of which are available on my Department's website. In addition, NEPS provides a service to every school in the event of a critical incident regardless of whether the school already has a dedicated service from a NEPS psychologist. Also in relation to all schools, NEPS processes applications for reasonable accommodations in certificate examinations and responds to queries and requests for assessments in relation to individual children from other sections of my Department and from the specialist agencies.

In common with many other psychological services, NEPS operates a staged model of service to schools, whereby an initial referral usually leads to a consultation and provision of advice to teachers and parents on appropriate teaching and management strategies. Progress is kept under review and only those children who fail to respond to these interventions will need to see a psychologist. This allows the psychologists to offer early appointments to children who are in urgent need of support and early advice to teachers in respect to those children whose needs are perhaps less pressing but who still need additional help in school.

At present, approximately 53% of schools in County Kildare — 68 schools out of a total number of 129 — have access to a dedicated service from NEPS and this represents more than 65% of the student population. Information regarding numbers of NEPS psychologists working in County Kildare in previous years is not always meaningful in terms of comparisons as psychologists were assigned at that time to a number of areas. For example, in 2002-2003 eight psychologists were assigned to a number of schools in County Kildare but they also worked in other schools within the eastern region, south-west area, which encompasses west Dublin as well as Kildare. From 2003-2004, however, allocation of psychologists in this region was more focused geographically.

The information in respect of the other years in question is as follows: 2003-2004 five psychologists; 2004-2005 five psychologists; and 2005-2006 five psychologists.

Schools not served directly by NEPS continue to have access to SCPA. The number of NEPS psychologists has increased from 43 on establishment to 121 at present. The Public Appointments Service has recently established new recruitment panels for NEPS. Regional panels are now in place and my Department is currently in the process of appointing psychologists. Geographical areas of greatest need are receiving priority in the appointment of psychologists. Any increase in the number of psychologists in NEPS will depend on the availability of resources and must also take account of Government policy on public sector numbers.