Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 170: To ask the Minister for Education and Science when she expects to be in a position to appoint the required number of psychologists to the National Educational Psychological Service; if her attention has been drawn to the full extent of the requirements in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15850/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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All primary and post-primary schools have access to psychological assessments either directly through the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, or through the scheme for commissioning psychological assessments, SCPA, that is administered by NEPS and full details of which are available on my Department's website.

Since the establishment of NEPS in 1999, the number of NEPS psychologists has increased from 43 to 122. The Public Appointments Service recently concluded a new recruitment competition for the appointment of educational psychologists to NEPS. Regional panels have been established to allow my Department assign greater priority in filling vacancies to areas with the greatest need. My Department is currently in the process of recruiting a further nine psychologists.

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 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.