Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 74 and 75 together.

The National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) is the psychological service of the Department of Education and Youth and provides critical services to the almost 1 million children and young people and almost 100,000 staff who work in our primary, post-primary and special schools daily. The vital and broad-ranging services provided by NEPS psychologists include:

• The provision of an individual casework service for children and young people, where there is need, which may include consultation, assessment and intervention
• First responders when schools and school communities experience critical incidents
• The provision of a support and development service for school staff, and ongoing access to advice and support for all schools
• Delivering on the Counselling and Mental Health Pilots in primary schools

The number of educational psychologists currently employed in NEPS stands at 234 whole time equivalents (WTE) across six regions.

My department is making every effort to recruit additional educational psychologists. 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. Last March I was delighted to welcome the announcement by Maynooth University of their intention to commence a new professional training programme for Educational Psychology from this September. This course is much needed and now, after a competitive interview process, there are 20 candidates of the highest calibre signed up to start their professional training on this new programme. The Department of Education & Youth is extending its bursary scheme to support these students, and this programme will support a substantial increase in the number of qualified educational psychologists available to NEPS. This new programme is a significant step forward in the government’s commitment to significantly increase the numbers of college places for educational psychologists in schools as outlined in the Programme for Government 2025.

CORU, the regulating body for health and social care professionals in Ireland is currently progressing the standards of proficiency and education and training standards for educational psychologists in Ireland with a view to regulating the profession on a statutory basis. I have been assured that the programme being provided by Maynooth University will adhere to the very highest of standards of education and training that are in line with international statutory accreditation standards for educational psychologists, and will be in line with CORU standards, once they are finalised. The NEPS service is committed to supporting this programme, as it does the other professional training programmes for educational psychologists in Ireland, through the provision of practice placements, supervisory support and input to the training itself.

Over the three-year programme, trainees will develop expertise in the core skills of assessment, intervention, consultation, training and research within a variety of educational and service settings. They will gain hands-on experience working with children, young people, families and professionals, ensuring they are well-prepared to support the learning, development, and emotional well-being of children and young people. They will also gain expertise working with multidisciplinary teams with continually evolving opportunities for such work within the education sector including as part of the multidisciplinary team in the North-East Inner City (NEIC) project, and working with other multidisciplinary teams in Education, including the NCSE’s Educational Therapy Support Service (ETSS). Further opportunities for multidisciplinary working will be provided with the new National Therapy Service being introduced by government from this year into special schools.

This commitment is part of the broader, long-term commitment by Government to radically reshape and significantly enhance the provision of therapy services and educational psychology services for children and young people in schools.