Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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177. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a cluster of five schools (details supplied) in County Mayo has no dedicated psychological service available to it for the second school year running; the proposals in place to address this issue; his views on the provision of psychological services to schools in County Mayo; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36926/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may be aware my Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides an educational psychological 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 in the NEPS section of my 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.

I have made enquiries in the matter of the five schools detailed in the Deputy’s question and have been informed that in respect of three (Midfield, Culmore and Kinaffe National Schools ) there is a NEPS psychologist currently assigned and providing service to each.

NEPS psychologists are recruited via regional panels formed from national recruitment competitions administered by the Public Appointments Service (PAS). Two of the schools referred to by the Deputy (Swinford and Meelick National schools) lost its assigned NEPS psychologist to a career break and while attempts were made to fill the vacancy in the NEPS Castlebar office from the existing PAS panel (and indeed by internal transfer of existing personnel within NEPS) they were ultimately unsuccessful.

A new national recruitment competition has been put in place by PAS to fill vacancies within all NEPS Regions.  The closing date for applications is now passed and work is currently ongoing in relation to the vetting of applicants, preparatory to the staging of interviews in this connection.  It is envisaged, following this, that recruitment panels will be formed and active filling of vacancies will commence early in the New Year.

In the interim, schools whose service from NEPS are the subject of such vacancies have been advised that they may access assessment services via the Scheme for the Commissioning of Psychological Assessments described above and that they will continue to be able to access advice and assistance, in the event of a critical incident, from their local NEPS office.

My Department’s NEPS service will continue to communicate developments in this regard to the schools involved.