Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I take this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney.

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 during the past number of years. In recent years, significant additional resources have been provided for services and supports in this area. The multi-annual investment programme, which is a key component of the Government's disability strategy, will by the end of 2008 have provided for 980 new residential places, 313 new respite places, 2,505 new day places for the intellectual disability service, 300 new residential places and 950,000 extra home care-personal assistance hours for people with physical and sensory disabilities. Funding was also provided for the targeted transfer of persons with intellectual disability-autism from psychiatric hospitals and other inappropriate placements.

Since 2006 more than €550 million has been allocated to the HSE under the multi-annual investment programme, of which €425 million was for disability services and €125 million for mental health. The Government has further emphasised this pledge to people with disabilities by allocating additional funding to the continued development and enhancement of services in 2009. In budget 2009, an additional €10 million was allocated to the HSE for services in the area of disability and mental health. The funding for 2009 will provide for 125 additional therapy posts in the disability and mental health services area targeted at children of school-going age. In addition, once-off funding of €1.75 million is being provided for suicide prevention initiatives and for mental health projects supporting service users and carers.

With regard to the specific matter raised by Deputy Durkan, I understand from the HSE that the person concerned was receiving home support from his local HSE. When his family moved to another county, the home support hours were allocated to other children. When he and his family returned home approximately one year later there were no unallocated home support hours available. There are many children with autism who require home supports and there is a high demand for these services. I understand the HSE in the relevant area is currently reviewing the service and expects to have home support hours available in January as a result of this review.

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