Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

I will be taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney. I am pleased to take this opportunity to address the important issues raised by the Deputy.

I wish to emphasise the Government's commitment to providing a high quality service to all people with a disability. This commitment is illustrated by the substantial investment we have been making in disability services in recent years. The national disability strategy, launched in September 2004, reinforces equal participation in society of people with disabilities and provides for a framework of new supports for people with disabilities. This programme, together with the enhancement of other key support services, is a key factor in building the additional capacity required to ensure that services best meet identified needs.

The strategy builds on a strong equality framework, which is reflected in several pieces of equality legislation. It puts the policy of mainstreaming of public services for people with disabilities on a clear legal footing. The main elements of the strategy were the Disability Act 2005; the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004; the sectoral plans published in 2006 by six Departments; the Citizens Information Act 2007; and the multi-annual investment programme for disability support services for the period 2006-09. In launching the national disability strategy, the Taoiseach also announced the Government's commitment to a multi-annual investment package for disability-specific services over a five-year period. To the end of 2007, €420 million has been allocated to services for people with disabilities since the launch of the strategy in 2004.

As the Deputy is aware, an additional €50 million was allocated by my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Cowen, for the provision of improved and additional disability services in the budget for 2008. The HSE proposes to allocate this €50 million as follows. With regard to services for persons with intellectual disability and those with autism, 200 additional residential places will be provided in 2008, bringing the total number of places to 8,462 by the end of 2008; 467 additional day care places will be provided in 2008, bringing the total number of places to 25,196 by the end of 2008; and 53 additional respite places will be provided, which will bring the total number of places to 4,533 by the end of 2008. With regard to services for persons with physical or sensory disabilities, 80 additional residential places will be provided in 2008, bringing the total number of places to 914 by the end of 2008; and 200,000 additional hours of personal assistance-home support hours will be provided, which will bring the total number of hours to 3,200,000 by the end of 2008. With regard to the Disability Act, 140 multidisciplinary team posts are being provided to disability services to provide assessment and ongoing intervention services to children with a disability and in particular with reference to the implementation of the Disability Act for children under five years of age. By the end of the current multi-annual investment package in 2009, it is expected that 1,235 new residential places, 398 new respite places and 467 new day care places will have been commissioned for intellectual disability services, in addition to 380 new residential places and 1,150,000 extra personal assistance-home support hours for people with physical and sensory disabilities.

The Department of Health and Children has made inquiries with the HSE in the case named by the Deputy Rabbitte. The HSE has informed the Department of Health and Children that the St. John of God Menni Services, Islandbridge, has two whole-time equivalent speech and language therapy posts. One therapist has been employed by the organisation since September 2007 and the second therapist is in post since 2008. The HSE further states that since 2004 the St. John of God Menni Services at Islandbridge has experienced recruitment and retention problems with the speech and language therapist posts. Currently, there are 40 children aged 0-5 years and 40 children aged 5-18 years in receipt of this service from the order.

The Department of Health and Children understands from the HSE that the person mentioned by the Deputy was referred to the St. John of God's speech and language service in October 2007 and is on its waiting list for assessment. I will endeavour to ensure that the Department and the HSE keep Deputy Rabbitte informed of developments in this case.

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