The beginnings of PSI

Abstract

The emergence of psychology in Ireland – both as an academic discipline employing scientific methodology and as an area of professional application – is briefly outlined. The challenges involved in pioneering the new discipline in the 1960s highlighted the need for a representative body to provide professional support and to advance the interests of psychology and psychologists in the country. Against that background the founders set out to promote a positive professional identity by establishing a single organisation representing all psychologists in the country but catering for specialisations in its sub-groups. The main stages in consultation and planning that led to the founding of The Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI) in May 1970 are described.