Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I want to ask the Taoiseach about children's services. I understand there are 7,000 children in north Dublin waiting more than 12 months for an eye test. Recent official figures show there are more than 1,000 children waiting a very long period for psychiatric assessments. Data provided by the HSE to the Joint Committee on Health and Children show that children are waiting up to four years for orthodontic treatment.

If government is about anything, it is about making decisions that affect people's lives and that can improve the environment for everybody. Yesterday we heard the mother of a six year old autistic child talking on national television about the Educate Together school in Castleknock that has not been open for 12 months. The reason is the row between the Health Service Executive and the Department of Education and Science because of the embargo on recruitment for occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and behavioural therapy. Yet the six advisers to the Minister for Health and Children cost €666,000 a year. The mother of this child does not mind who provides the service so long as her child receives it. This school, and its autism unit, cannot open without the appointment of the specialists, who are contracted to the HSE and not the Department of Education and Science.

If government is about any type of leadership, surely the Taoiseach should be in a position to have this row sorted out today and to make this facility, for which the taxpayer has paid, available to provide the services for which it was intended.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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What will the Taoiseach do about this? Will he call in the Minister for Health and Children and say that this matter must be sorted out with the HSE? There are specialists available for recruitment but they cannot be appointed because of this embargo. Mrs. Murphy stated: "If anybody were to come out to my house and see what I have to deal with now because my child cannot get these specialist services". What will the Taoiseach do about it? Will he give the Dáil a guarantee that he will take a personal interest in this and sort out the row which is between two Departments, headed by two Ministers who seem to be at loggerheads over this matter?

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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On the Deputy's first point, every year, last year being no exception, we have increased resources, consultant posts, nursing posts and other medical posts to alleviate the waiting lists for particular children right across the hospital system, whether in orthodontic, ophthalmic or any of the other specialties. A large part of the resources every year has gone into alleviating the position for children. That has proved itself. In areas where there are difficulties, the national treatment purchase fund has also been used to alleviate the situation. It is quite a costly system but it allows us to use private facilities to reduce the waiting lists.

I have several points to make on the Castleknock position, which was brought to my attention in recent days. There are 277 of these schools around the country and all of them have teaching staff, resources staff and special needs assistants, but not all of them have multidisciplinary teams. The board of management in this case, which, as it runs the school, is entitled to take the decision, has stated its intention not to open the school unless this multidisciplinary team is in place. The children are attending other schools further away from their homes in the immediate area. It is not that they are out of school but they would be facilitated far better if they were in the local area.

The school was supplied with a new high quality school building, including a purpose built autism unit. The teachers and special needs assistants have been sanctioned for the special school. I understand the school has taken the view that until it receives funding from the HSE for the therapies, it will not open. The view is that the school should open the unit without delay while the work goes on with the HSE to organise the therapy provision rather than leave the children in the other schools. However, the board of management is entitled to take the position it has taken.

It is not the case that there is an embargo on recruitment. Almost 4,000 staff were taken on last year by the HSE and its budget for this year has increased by €1 billion. The board of management of this school obviously has demands and issues to deal with but the HSE is working to improve access to speech and language and occupational therapy throughout the country. The Minister of State, Deputy Devins, has been working with the Department of Education and Science to co-ordinate the provision of such therapies. Members will recall that the number of places in the relevant universities and institutes of technology has been expanded over recent years to increase the supply of therapists coming out of third level education. There has traditionally been a shortage of speech and language therapists. I appreciate the importance of various forms of therapy to children with special needs, but I do not think they should be denied an education in a purpose-built unit in the meantime. I have asked the Ministers concerned to do their best to resolve this issue in conjunction with the HSE.

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Tell them.

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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I understand that it is not just a question of money — it is also a question of the availability of individuals.

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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We do not have enough speech and language therapists.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I do not often agree with the Minister for Education and Science, but she is right when she says that autism is an intellectual disability. I am not sure whether the Taoiseach said he has instructed the "Minister" or the "Ministers" to sort this out.

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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I have asked the Ministers to do so.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I hope that is actually taken to a conclusion in the shortest possible time, so that this unit can actually open. Deputy Brian Hayes proposed a motion on autism on behalf of Fine Gael last week. It was voted on by the House. It received the support of all Opposition Deputies and a number of Fianna Fáil Deputies. Unfortunately, the latter group did not have the courage to vote against the Government on the motion, about which they felt strongly. One Fianna Fáil Deputy has become a reluctant heroine as a result. People do not seem to want to recognise the reality.

I could introduce the Minister, Deputy Hanafin, to a parent who has spent €250,000 on replacing the furniture in her house. The woman in question faces difficulties and challenges in respect of her child. The Minister said yesterday that the education of each child is important. That is true and I agree. However, one cannot require parents to send their children to schools which do not have the facilities to deal with them and the specialist educationalists to give them the education to which they are properly entitled. It is as if the Minister is saying "let them go to school, let them have an education — that is going to be good enough for them". It is not good enough for them.

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Let them eat cake.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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That is the point. It is not good enough for them. It is appalling that the Minister for Education and Science is saying "let them go to school, let them have an education — they will be all right". As autism is an intellectual disability, the specialists dealing with it should be contracted to the Department of Education and Science.

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Hear, hear.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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People with autism have an educational need, rather than a medical need. If the change I have proposed were made, there would be no row with the HSE and the Department of Health and Children. At present, some people cannot be appointed to do the jobs for which they have been properly trained. The Taoiseach should take a personal interest in sorting out this problem. He should treat what the Minister, Deputy Hanafin, has said with a degree of scepticism — take it with a pinch of salt. It is not just a question of "send them to school, they will get an education — they will be all right". It is the duty of the State, under the Constitution, to ensure that children are given the best opportunities. If that requires specialist education and specialist facilities, it is the duty of the Government to ensure that happens. Parents should not have to spend €250,000 on their children. They should not be dragged through the courts to defend the right of their children to access the education to which they are properly entitled, at a time when the Minister for Health and Children's six advisers are costing €666,000 per annum.

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Hear, hear.

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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A number of points have been made. I think I have explained the Castleknock issue. There is no need to go back to that. The issue has to be resolved. I do not want to repeat all the points and arguments which were made when the issue of children's needs was raised a few weeks ago. I referred on that occasion to international advice on the best way of dealing with autism and how we should deal with it. We are providing enormous resources in this area and rightly so. Autism is a huge problem, difficulty and challenge for any family. Every Member of this House has seen it at first hand. We are familiar with the consequences of autism. It was not recognised until the last decade, but that is part of history now.

Funding for ten hours of home tuition per week is available for children with autism who are under the age of three. Funding for 20 hours a week is available after such children have reached that age. Some 23 pre-schools for children with autism have been established. The Department funds home tuition for children aged six or more who are encountering difficulties in securing appropriate educational placements. That scheme covers some of the children mentioned by Deputy Kenny. Approximately 30 children are in such a position. Placements have been found for the vast majority of children with autism across the length and breadth of the country.

Three distinct educational options are now open to autistic children of schoolgoing age. They can be placed in ordinary classes with the support of a resource teacher or a special needs assistant, if needed. They can be placed in a special class within a mainstream school or they can be placed in a special school. While many children with autism can thrive in ordinary classrooms, special classes have been designed specifically to deal with the needs of children with autism who need greater levels of individual support. In some instances, the Department believes it has provided appropriate services to a child, but his or her family does not believe that to be the case. If the Department believes it is right, it has to defend its case. We wish such circumstances did not arise. The Department's belief in its position has been vindicated in most cases. It is a pity it comes to that.

I cannot let it go without mentioning that an enormous amount has happened in this area. I know there are differences of opinion about international advice, etc. Various Members of the House have different views. I understand all of that. We will see that as research changes. As a country, we are spending huge resources — approximately €1 billion — in this area. Those moneys are being used to employ 10,000 special needs assistants in our schools. There were just 300 special needs assistants in this country when I became Taoiseach. There are approximately 9,000 resource teachers in learning support positions, compared to 2,000 in 1997.

Over the past decade, we have increased from 2,300 to 19,000 the number of people who are paid to provide services and help children with autism every day of the week. We are extending that by multiples every year. We have doubled the amount of money being spent in this area over the past four years. The developments we have made in this country have been quite extraordinary. We are prepared to continue to do that. We will be doing it. We will follow best international practice in the process.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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It emerged yesterday that a laptop containing personal information on over 170,000 people who have donated blood to the Irish Blood Transfusion Service was stolen on a street in New York earlier this month. I have concerns about the security of personal information supplied by people to Government bodies and State agencies. This is not the first time personal information of this nature has been lost. We discovered recently, in response to parliamentary questions tabled by my colleague, Deputy Quinn, that more than 80 laptops, desktops or blackberries have been stolen from, or lost by, Departments over the past five years. There was considerable controversy in the United Kingdom late last year when a computer disk, on which personal information about 25 million people was stored, was lost. At that time, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner stated that there was no guarantee that something similar could not happen here. When people supply personal information to a State agency, it is reasonable for them to have confidence that it will be kept securely. The information supplied to the Irish Blood Transfusion Service can be quite sensitive.

I would like to ask the Taoiseach a couple of questions. What was the extent of the information on the laptop that was stolen in New York? I understand that the Irish Blood Transfusion Service has written to the people concerned. We should be given details about the extent of the information stored on the laptop. Will the Taoiseach ask the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner to undertake a full audit of the security procedures and measures which are in place to govern the protection of personal information that is supplied to Departments? We need to have a full overview of the security in place so that when information is supplied by people to Departments, which they believe is supplied on a confidential basis, it is not open to theft or being accessed by criminals for the purpose of identity theft or even by the staff of the agencies concerned in an unauthorised way.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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That is why the Government wants e-voting.

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Irish Blood Transfusion Service, IBTS, has given me a report on the incident. The IBTS entered into an agreement with the New York Blood Centre, NYBC, for the provision of a data query tool last October. The purpose of the data warehousing reporting tool is to improve the existing IBTS blood banking system computer, which is called Progresa. The issue the IBTS was trying to deal with was improving its own security and service, which is why it had set up the New York agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, the IBTS exported data on a CD from its Progresa system for the period 2 July 2007 to 11 October 2007. The data were encrypted using a 256-bit key encryption prior to export on the CD. The data contained details of 171,324 donor records, including name, address, date of birth, gender, blood group and contact telephone number. The CD holding the records was handed over to personnel of the NYBC in Ireland during the week beginning 3 December last and it is retained by the NYBC in a physically secure environment. No data stored on the encryption volume can be read or decrypted without using the correct password, key files or encryption keys.

The IBTS and the NYBC consider that the risk of any person being in a position to bypass the password controls and decrypt the data is extremely remote.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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A hacker would sort that out in a few minutes.

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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On the evening of 7 February, an NYBC staff member was mugged outside his home in New York and the laptop issued to him by the centre containing these encrypted files was stolen. While the police have been notified and an investigation into the robbery is ongoing, the laptop has not been recovered. The IBTS and the NYBC are very concerned about the theft and the IBTS informed the Data Protection Commissioner on 11 February about the matter. The IBTS is writing to each donor affected on 22 February to reassure them and to advise them of the possibility, however remote, that personal data might be accessed. It is also writing to general practitioners and hospitals who will, in turn, contact the patients concerned. I am also informed that an information line has been set up for anyone with concerns. The number is 1850731137. The IBTS also advises it would be glad of the opportunity to brief interested Deputies and representatives will make themselves available today at a suitable time to be arranged with the Minister for Health and Children. They will brief any Member with questions or concerns.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. One of our concerns must be to ensure continuing confidence in the blood bank so that people do not withhold donating blood as a result of this. It is ironic that the IBTS set out to seek help in securing the information only to end up with somebody walking around with it on a laptop on a street in New York where it ended up being stolen. There is something incredibly sloppy about that.

I refer to the second part of my question. Unfortunately, this incident is not a one off, as there have been other thefts of computer equipment, disks and so on from Departments. Deputy Shortall tabled questions to the Department of Social and Family Affairs about the unauthorised accessing of personal information by staff. One prominent case occurred in recent times. Will the Taoiseach ask the Data Protection Commissioner to undertake a full review of the security arrangements surrounding personal information supplied to Departments, which is held electronically? There is a necessity to restore people's confidence that the information they are supplying to Departments will not be accessed, lost or carried around on a disk or a laptop by staff of an agency on the streets of Dublin or New York and that the dangers of personal information getting into the hands of criminals or others and the dangers associated with identity theft will be minimised. Serious attention needs to be given to this issue and the way to proceed is to ask the Data Protection Commissioner, in the first instance, to conduct a full audit of security measures, make a report and for the Government to take whatever necessary action needs to be taken to increase security and to protect people's identities.

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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In fairness to the staff of the IBTS, they were conscious that the service's blood banking computer system required improvement and they set out to do that. They went to where they had been advised were the best records in the world. What happened was unfortunate but these things happen. Everyone will say one can hack into anything nowadays——

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Even e-voting machines.

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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——but the IBTS and the NYBC strongly believe this is an extremely remote possibility. However, they will take all the necessary precautions. I agree with Deputy Gilmore that the credibility of the system and the security of the data of people who give blood are important.

Public service bodies, as well as other organisations or individuals who hold personal data, are subject to the requirements of the Data Protection Acts, 1998 and 2003, which provide for the appropriate compilation, storage and use of such data. Among the requirements placed on organisations and individuals regarding the management of personal data is the need to keep it secure against unauthorised access. The specific statute provision is as follows:

A data controller shall, as respects personal data kept by him or her, comply with the following provisions:. . .(d) appropriate security measures shall be taken against unauthorised access to, or unauthorised alteration, disclosure or destruction of, the data, in particular where the processing involves the transmission of data over a network, and against all other unlawful forms of processing.

Organisations and individuals that hold personal data have to register with the Data Protection Commissioner. This registration gives the details of the type of personal data held. That applies to all organisations, which must designate a data controller who will have statutory responsibility and ensure compliance by the organisations with the Acts. Many laws and regulations cover unauthorised disclosure and fines on indictment are set out in the legislation.

The Deputy referred to individual Departments. I have seen parliamentary questions and replies over the past two weeks from all Departments about security and data. Those replies should be on the record of the House. The Deputy also asked for the Data Protection Commissioner to examine this issue and I will bring that to his attention.