Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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460. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated full-year cost of recruiting 17 additional full-time psychologists for national educational psychological services, in tabular form. [4069/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware my Department's National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) provides educational psychological support to all primary and post-primary schools. This involves direct support in the event of a critical incident, access to national and regional support and development work to build school capacity to support students, access to a NEPS psychologist for responses to queries arising, and access to individual pupil casework via a NEPS psychologist or through the Scheme for the Commissioning of Psychological Assessments. (SCPA)

The average direct pay and non-pay cost per annum of engaging an individual Educational Psychologist is €76,000 per annum. In regard to the Deputy's specific question the estimated annual additional cost, therefore, of employing these additional psychologists would be in the order of €1.29m p.a.