John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Ríordáin for raising this important issue. The Government is committed to protecting front-line services, including services for children with disabilities and autism, to the greatest possible extent by seeking to maximise the provision of services within available resources. As the Deputy will know, the Government has decided that the number of people employed across the public service must be reduced to 282,500 by the end of 2014 to help it to meet its fiscal and budgetary targets. The health sector must make a proportionate contribution to the achievement of this reduction. The general moratorium on the recruitment or replacement of staff is one of the measures that have been put in place by the Government to achieve this aim. The HSE can make staff appointments as long as it remains within its overall employment ceiling and has the financial resources to do so.

However, given the need to meet overall budgetary and employment targets, such appointments must be kept to a minimum.

The HSE aims to ensure the resources available for speech and language therapy are used to best effect in order to provide assessment and ongoing therapy to children and adults in line with their prioritised needs. Along with the significant investment in the area of speech and language therapists employed in recent years, a range of new approaches has been developed and used in many speech and language therapy services across the country. These include providing structures, training and support to parents and carers so they can work to help improve the individual's speech and language. In addition, therapy is delivered in group settings where appropriate. It is key, in this context, that services are configured to ensure optimal effectiveness and efficiency within the existing substantial resources.

As the Deputy may be aware, the Beechpark autism services in north Dublin are currently being reviewed to see how they can be provided to best effect into the future. Arising out of a report prepared by the HSE for the Minister for Health on the Beechpark autism services, I established an independent expert group to review and make recommendations on them. The review group comprises the chairman, Mr. James O'Grady, Professor Michael Fitzgerald and Dr. Fiona Keogh. The review group has already met on several occasions and has carried out two site visits as part of its work to date.

The review is being conducted having regard to the national policy framework on children's disability and autism services set out in the report of the National Reference Group on Multidisciplinary Disability Services for Children aged 5-18 and the HSE review of autism services, as well as the reorganisation of services based on this national policy that is under way under the national programme on progressing disability services for children and young people aged up to 18. The review will also consider and make recommendations on how available resources for children's disability and autism services should be utilised across all HSE areas, having regard to the principles of equity of access to services, value for money, quality and sustainability, and in light of the national policy framework. The review is nearing completion and the group expects to be in a position to present its recommendations to me in the near future.

The particular issue raised by the Deputy will need to be considered in the context of the report of the Beechpark review group and in light of the financial and employment control parameters. There is no doubt the current economic situation in the country is presenting challenges to us in terms of how best to maximise the provision of services within available resources. I am committed to protecting front-line services, including children's disability and autism services to the greatest possible extent.

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