David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 11: To ask the Minister for Health and Children her plans to establish an office for disability and mental health under the Minister of State; the timescale for the establishment of same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2555/08]

Jimmy Devins (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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The establishment of the office for disability and mental health was announced by the Taoiseach on Wednesday, 30 January 2008. The office will support me as the Minister of State for disability and mental health at the Department of Health and Children in exercising my responsibilities in four Government Departments, namely, the Departments of Health and Children, Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Education and Science and Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

The office will focus on supporting the implementation of the health sectoral plan under the Disability Act and will facilitate the delivery of integrated health and education support services for children with special needs. The office will also support the development of training and employment support services for people with a disability. On mental health, the new office will have responsibility for driving implementation of the recommendations of A Vision for Change and the recommendations of Reach Out: National Strategy for Action on Suicide Prevention. It will also develop closer co-operation between the health and justice sectors on cross-cutting issues relating, for example, to the provisions of the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act and the Central Mental Hospital.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the establishment of this office and the office for older people. We suggested it in our manifesto before the election so I am delighted that the Minister for Health and Children has taken it on board. She had also suggested it. Could the Minister of State outline the staffing and structure of this new office? If he does not have it now, he might send it to us later. What role will the office have in co-ordinating the important and valuable work done by the various voluntary bodies around the country with people with disabilities? For example, will it have a role in co-ordinating and tracking expenditure and ensuring services are delivered? What kind of reporting mechanism will the office have? Will it have a chief executive and what kind of staff will be in there? Is the office operational or is there a timescale for setting it up?

Jimmy Devins (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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The office will be built around the existing Department of Health and Children staff who deal with disability and mental health. An existing director at the Department of Health and Children, Ms Bairbre nic Aonghusa, has been appointed to head up the new office and she has already taken her place so the office is operational. I intend to visit, and have visited, various voluntary bodies, both service users and providers, around the country. I have found it enormously informative and the office will track the money allocated to the HSE as it disburses it around the areas of disability and mental health.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Has the office a budget and what role will it have in the spend of the health budget on mental health, disability and elder care?

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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How will the office interact with the National Disability Authority, NDA?

Jimmy Devins (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy knows, the NDA is within the remit of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Those functions have been delegated to the new office of disability and mental health. The office's budget will be the budget for disability and mental health given by the Department of Health and Children to the HSE and we will closely track how that money is disbursed to the various organisations.