Clinical psychology in Ireland: What empirical studies of professional practice tell us

This chapter briefly sketches the historical development of clinical psychology in Ireland and against this backdrop summarizes key findings from the 5 studies described in the remainder of this book. Clinical psychology has evolved in Ireland over the past 40 years from a profession with only a handful of members and a circumscribed role to one with over 300 professionals with complex and diverse roles. The first professional university based training programmes were set up in the late 1970s. The output from these continues to fail to meet the demand for qualified clinicians. Clinical psychologists are employed in three main areas: child mental health services; adult mental health services; and physical and intellectual disability services.