Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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Question 7: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her plans to support local childcare committees to bring professionals such as speech and occupational therapists into preschool services; if she will resource childcare committees to do this; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15119/12]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Chatterbox service, which facilitates early intervention in the area of speech therapy, is a successful collaborative social inclusion project between the Health Service Executive and the Cavan and Monaghan child care committees. The service was first introduced in 2004 and is funded under the health inequalities fund. It is proving to be an excellent early intervention tool, with a true partnership approach between the agencies involved. On a recent visit to the service I was pleased to see how effective it is. I said at the time to Deputy Ó Caoláin that it was a model that should be followed elsewhere. The issue links into the previous question on providing integrated services to young children in need of them.

Social inclusion services improve access to mainstream services, target services to needy groups, address inequalities and enhance the participation and involvement of socially excluded groups. The service is a primary health care project and is funded by the HSE. While I am very supportive of the initiative, responsibility for and funding of primary care services lies with my colleague, the Minister for Health. I continue to fund the child care committees. The committee in this instance has done an excellent job in terms of its role in supporting the implementation of the three national child care schemes and child care services generally, and has been involved in some of the initiatives.

In addition to the Chatterbox service in Cavan and Monaghan, pilot initiatives have been undertaken in other parts of the country to provide speech and language supports within child care settings. For example, the early years programme delivered by the Childhood Development Initiative in west Tallaght incorporates a speech and language service. This service offers support to children and training and support to parents and preschool staff. This speech and language service is being independently evaluated and the results will be available later this year. The development of the early years strategy will provide an opportunity to examine how we provide services and supports to children from birth to six years old. In that context we will have an opportunity to examine the type of service to which the question refers. We should examine initiatives such as these and they should inform national policy. They should also inform priorities for supporting children's development.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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As I indicated to the Minister on the day of her visit, which was very successful, this was a matter we would address again. I do so today to gently urge the Minister to follow up on her positive response to what she witnessed on that day. It is important we try to emulate the example of the success of the Chatterbox service. The county child care committees are an appropriate vehicle for engaging with the greater number of preschool children today. They cater for approximately 95% of preschool starters.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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It is not easy to say that.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I had to think about it when I had it said but I was right the first time. We do not expect the Minister to have a roll-out in train at this early stage following her visit but has she been able in the period since to engage within her Department to look at the concept to see how it could be done and whether it would be possible to find funding to roll out the approach across the board? Is it possible to ring-fence funding in that regard?

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I knew Deputy Ó Caoláin would not delay in bringing the matter to my attention in the Dáil. I was very impressed with the service when I visited it on 17 February. I have spoken on the service since in the Seanad. As the Deputy is aware, county child care committees exist in every county. I spoke to the child care committee after I saw the service and suggested that the initiative which it had begun could be replicated and deserved to be. One way of taking it forward would be through the national child care committee system. I have initiated a new programme on county child care committees, namely, that they should work together at national level and begin to identify priorities at a national level as well as at a county level. This service is an example of an initiative which is all about getting services to families in an easier way for them. The service could be followed. I am awaiting evaluation reports from the community development initiatives which will also look at how well that type of service is working. Instead of parents having to go to appointments in a clinic, the services would be brought to them in a location where they are likely to be with their young children.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Would it be worthwhile as a first step to circulate for the information of other county child care committees, the tools employed and the concept itself in order to inform? It is only through the dissemination of information and the sharing of best practice ideas that we will germinate sufficient enthusiasm and realisation that there are other ways of doing things and that there is something that can be emulated in terms of the Monaghan county child care committee experience. The Minister's visit was very much appreciated. It would be important to take early steps to indicate good intent in terms of bringing the project to the widest possible attention, and I would encourage the Minister to so do.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I suggested to the Cavan and Monaghan child care committees that they circulate it and perhaps begin to have that discussion. If there is any way my Department can facilitate that, I would be happy for it to do so.

As I stated, I was impressed with the project. It is similar to the CDI project in Tallaght from which I am awaiting results. I would be confident that this is the kind of initiative that will be replicated. Certainly, I will be including it in my early years strategy as a model of good practice, as Deputy Ó Caoláin stated.

All of the evidence shows that if we reach out to children at an early age when they have a speech disability or any other disability such as an emotional or cognitive disability, in many cases the disability reduces and is dealt with more effectively.

I am pleased that Deputy Ó Caoláin raised in the House what is happening in this initiative in Cavan-Monaghan. It is one that certainly can be replicated. It would be interesting to hear the response of the professional organisations as well. I will arrange to get a response from them and I will communicate with Deputy Ó Caoláin on that.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Taking up from the points Deputy Ó Caoláin made, the importance of providing these services to children at a fairly young age cannot be over-emphasised. I would ask the Minister to look also at the crossover between children going from early years to primary school, in particular, in terms of ensuring those with speech and language difficulties get the services they require. If their needs can be addressed at that age, it has innumerable benefits down the road. It can ensure a child can catch up and be in a position to keep pace with his or her education as he or she goes on.

I ask the Minister to intervene in a particular case on which I am working in Drumfries national school in County Donegal where they are trying to set up a new class for a number of children who require speech and language assistance but are encountering difficulties because of the lack of speech and language therapists within the HSE in the area.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy McConalogue.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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If the special class cannot be set up to allow those children come up to speed with their speech and language over a period of a year or two, they will instead have to get resource hours at a national school. If one were to add up these costs, they would be similar but with a much poorer outcome in the latter case for those children.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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I ask the Minister to bring her good offices to bear, working with the Department of Health and the Department of Education and Skills, to ensure the case is addressed.

Perhaps the Minister could also look at conducting an assessment of the position across the rest of the country to ensure children coming from preschool get into special classes which cater for specific speech and language needs.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I call on the Minister to reply on the wider question.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Deputy McConalogue makes a good point on the transition point between early childhood services and primary school. That is something we need to manage. There is scope. I discussed this issue with the INTO when I met its representatives yesterday. They stated that in many instances, the preschool year is a considerable help because intervention is occurring at an earlier stage for children who need it, and those children are better prepared when they come attend primary school.

There is scope for shared speech and language therapists posts in a collaborative approach with a local service provider, whether it is with a school, as in the instance Deputy McConalogue suggests, or with a community initiative. There have been difficulties in recent years due to the lack of numbers of speech therapists but, in principle, the initiative Deputy McConalogue describes and the one we discussed are important. If Deputy McConalogue wishes to communicate directly on the case he mentioned, I will certainly follow it up.