Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 255: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of primary schools which have access to the National Educational Psychological Service; if the information will be provided in tabular format according to county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6067/06]

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 256: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of secondary schools which have access to the National Educational Psychological Service; if the information will be provided in tabular format according to county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6068/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 255 and 256 together.

All primary and post-primary schools have access to psychological assessments for their pupils, either directly from psychologists employed under the Department of Education and Science's National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, or through the scheme for commissioning psychological assessments, which is administered by NEPS. Schools to which NEPS psychologists have not been assigned may avail of the scheme for commissioning psychological assessments, whereby they can have an assessment carried out by a member of the panel of private psychologists approved by NEPS, which will pay the psychologist the fees for this assessment directly. Details of this process and the conditions which apply to the scheme are available on the Department's website.

The prioritisation of urgent cases for assessment is a matter for the school principal in the first instance. The number of NEPS psychologists has increased from 43 on establishment to 121 at present. The Public Appointments Service recently established new recruitment panels for NEPS. Regional panels are in place and the Department is in the process of appointing a number of new psychologists. Priority is being given to filling vacancies in areas of greatest need. Any increase in the number of psychologists in NEPS will depend on the availability of resources and must take account of Government policy on public sector numbers.

NEPS provides assistance to all schools and school communities which experience critical incidents, regardless of whether they have a NEPS psychologist assigned to them. NEPS processes applications for reasonable accommodation in certificate examinations from all schools and responds to queries relating to individual children from other sections of the Department and the specialist agencies. The information sought about the numbers of schools with access to NEPS is contained in the following table.