Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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224. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost in 2025 to recruit 50 additional WTE psychologists for the National Educational Psychological Service. [39035/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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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 where there is need via a NEPS psychologist.

The estimated cost in 2025 to employ 50 educational psychologists is €4.5million. This includes employer PRSI costs. It does not include non-pay costs associated with the employment of an educational psychologist.

Many of the educational psychologists joining NEPS have benefited from the introduction of a bursary scheme funded by the Department. Since January 2023, NEPS has supported bursaries for Trainee Educational Psychologists who are enrolled in the University College Dublin Professional Doctorate in Educational Psychology and Mary Immaculate College Limerick’s Professional Doctorate in Educational and Child Psychology. Those in receipt of a bursary commit to joining NEPS upon graduation. There are over 74 Trainee Educational Psychologists in receipt of a bursary who are expected to join NEPS upon graduation including 14 who joined in September 2024. The Deputy may be interested to know that the current funding supports available under the scheme to each student while training to become an educational psychologist come to a maximum sum of €40,000 for each of the three academic years of study.