Written answers

Tuesday, 30 January 2018

Department of Education and Skills

Psychological Services

Photo of Eugene MurphyEugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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222. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if financial assistance to trainee educational psychologists will be provided, in line with the financial support provided to their counterparts on alternative doctoral programmes and in the context of youth mental health (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4079/18]

Photo of Eugene MurphyEugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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233. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if financial assistance to trainee educational psychologists will be provided in line with the financial support provided to their counterparts on alternative doctoral programmes (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4213/18]

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 222 and 233 together.

It is presumed that the educational funding to which the Deputy refers relates to the Clinical Psychologist Traineeship programme operated within the Health Service Executive.

As the Deputy may be aware my Department’s National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) is a school-based educational psychological service to all first and second level schools. The NEPS mission is to support the well-being and the personal, social and educational development of all children through the application of psychological theory and practice in education, having particular regard for children with special educational needs.

NEPS bases its recruitment of staff on an open market offer, made through the Public Appointments Service, to appropriately qualified professionals. This process has proved successful in its application and intent over the years. Recruits thus identified and employed are supported through an induction programme and on-going professional development supports and the quality thereof is high and their retention very satisfactory.

Clinical Psychologists fulfil a particular function within the Health Sector which is subject to a number of contextual differences to those pertaining to Educational Psychologists in my Department and in which situation it has been deemed necessary to create a supported traineeship to secure and retain appropriately qualified personnel. I set out below for the Deputy’s information a note on the matter supplied to my Department by the HSE.

Clinical Psychologist Trainee

Employment of psychologists in the Irish Health Services began in the mid-sixties. Mirroring developments in the United Kingdom, the initial cohort of psychologists recruited were all employed as clinical psychologists mainly within mental health services. This practice was formally recognised with the introduction of the Department of Health (DoH) regulations in 1979 governing the recruitment of psychologists which related specifically to clinical psychology, attached.

In the early 1970s, in order to address the growing need for clinical psychologists and in the absence of formal training programmes, a clinical psychology apprenticeship in-service model was established within the Health Boards.

In 1978, clinical psychology training accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) was developed by the Eastern Health Board in collaboration with the University of Dublin, Trinity College (TCD). Successful trainees were awarded the BPS Diploma in Clinical Psychology. This led in 1992 to the establishment of a clinical psychology training programme in TCD. In 1983, University College Dublin (UCD) established a clinical psychology training programme in conjunction with Health Boards.

Currently, there are five doctoral level clinical psychology training programmes that have developed through and operate in partnership with the HSE. They are based at the National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG), University of Dublin, Trinity College (TCD), University College Dublin (UCD), University College Cork (UCC) and the University of Limerick (UL).

All five clinical psychology training programmes have, as required by the Accreditation Standards of PSI, a central purpose which is to train professionally qualified clinical psychologists to work in the Irish health service. It is the only branch of psychology to which the PSI attribute this purpose.

Parallel to the development of the partnership approach to clinical training between the HSE and the university sector, the PSI, in response to a request by the Department of Health to help meet the demand for psychologists at that time, established in 1992 its own in-service professional clinical psychology training programme. This course was discontinued in 2010. In 2015, approval was granted to establish a post graduate clinical psychology training programme in University College Cork (UCC).

Clinical psychology is the only branch of psychology whose central purpose is to work in the health sector. This programme of study and clinical placements is specific to the mental health services in the HSE and the programme content and placement locations are specified by the HSE. Participants undergoing these programmes receive are contracted for employment to the HSE are receive fee support. On completion of the programme of study the psychologists have a 3 year employment commitment to the HSE.

Workforce, Analysis and Informatics, National HR Directorate, HSE.

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