Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy will appreciate that I am not in a position to comment in the House on individual cases. I do not have any information on this case and even if I did I would be bound to respect the confidentiality of the person concerned. However, I am very sorry to hear about the experience the citizen the Deputy mentioned and the family have had. If the Deputy wishes to pass the information to me, the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, or the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Finian McGrath, we will have it examined.

The Deputy has acknowledged the significant increases in supports that have been provided in the last year or so for people with disabilities, whether it is the medical card as a right for children with severe disabilities, the 1,000 extra special needs assistants, SNAs, or the fact that we now spend more on special education than on higher education. However, there is always more work to do. The Minister has set up a working group on autism to examine service provision and what is good and bad practice. He expects to receive that report in a few weeks. He is also developing Ireland's first national autism strategy, which every Member of the House will welcome. The budget provided for increased funding for respite care, home care, school leavers and emergency places for 2018 and the details of that will be included in the HSE service plan. In addition, it is also planned to pilot speech and language therapy in schools in 2018 as part of our ongoing efforts to improve services for our citizens with disabilities who need so much support.

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