Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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489. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when an application in respect of a person (details supplied) for an exemption from Irish will be assessed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26020/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I can inform the Deputy that my Department's National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychology services to all primary and post primary schools through an assigned NEPS psychologist and in some cases through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA), full details of which are on the Department's website. Under this scheme schools 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. In common with many other psychological services and best international practice, NEPS has adopted a consultative model of service. The focus is on empowering teachers to intervene effectively with pupils whose needs range from mild to severe and transient to enduring. Psychologists use a problem solving and solution oriented consultative approach to maximize positive outcomes for these pupils. NEPS encourages schools to use a continuum based assessment and intervention process whereby each school takes responsibility for initial assessment, educational planning and remedial intervention for pupils with learning, emotional or behavioural difficulties. Teachers may consult their NEPS psychologist should they need to at this stage in the process. Only in the event of a failure to make reasonable progress, in spite of the school's best efforts in consultation with NEPS, will the psychologist become involved with an individual child for intensive intervention or assessment. This system allows psychologists to give early attention to urgent cases and also to help many more children indirectly than could be seen individually. It also ensures that children are not referred unnecessarily for psychological intervention. If the parents of the child, the subject of this question, have specific concerns relating to eligibility for an exemption form Irish then I would advise in the first instance that they speak to the Principal of the school with a view to him/her raising these concerns with the assigned NEPS psychologist.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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490. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if extra resources will be provided to tackle the backlog in carrying out assessments of language exemptions in primary and post primary schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26021/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Under Departmental circular 12/96 at primary school level the authority to grant exemptions from the study of Irish has been delegated to school management. As decisions on Irish exemptions are taken at school level my Department is not aware of a backlog in respect of the processing of these applications.

In general as it would be expected that the school is familiar with the student's circumstances it should be in a position to make a decision in a timely manner as to whether the student meets the criteria for an exemption or not.

In respect of applications for exemptions on the grounds of specific learning disability or a general learning disability a psychological report and/or medical report would be required to support the application. A delay in obtaining such a report may delay the lodgement of an application until such time as the relevant report becomes available.

The provision of medical reports is outside of both the control of either the school or my Department. In respect of psychological reports the requirement is that this report is provided by a qualified psychologist within two years of the date of the exemption application.

The Deputy may be aware that that my Department's National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychology service to all primary and post primary schools through an assigned NEPS psychologist and in some cases through the Scheme for Commissioning Psychological Assessments (SCPA), full details of which are on the Department's website. Under this scheme schools 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. In common with many other psychological services and best international practice, NEPS has adopted a consultative model of service. The focus is on empowering teachers to intervene effectively with pupils whose needs range from mild to severe and transient to enduring. Psychologists use a problem solving and solution oriented consultative approach to maximize positive outcomes for these pupils. NEPS encourages schools to use a continuum based assessment and intervention process whereby each school takes responsibility for initial assessment, educational planning and remedial intervention for pupils with learning, emotional or behavioural difficulties. Teachers may consult their NEPS psychologist should they need to at this stage in the process. Only in the event of a failure to make reasonable progress, in spite of the school's best efforts in consultation with NEPS, will the psychologist become involved with an individual child for intensive intervention or assessment.

This system allows psychologists to give early attention to urgent cases and also to help many more children indirectly than could be seen individually. It also ensures that children are not referred unnecessarily for psychological intervention.

If parents have specific concerns relating to the assessment of their children I would advise in the first instance that they speak to the Principal of the school(s) concerned with a view to raising these concerns with the assigned NEPS psychologist.

I can inform the Deputy that the Programme for a Partnership Government commits that my Department will invest additional resources in the National Educational Psychological Service to ensure earlier intervention and access for young children and teenagers and to offer immediate support to schools in cases of critical incidents. The Programme commits to bring the total number of NEPS psychologists to 238 from the current sanctioned limit of 173.