Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour)
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While I thank the Minister of State for his presence, I had hoped somebody from the Departments of Health or Education and Skills would be here.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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There is a Cabinet meeting on at the moment.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour)
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Yes. I hope the Minister of State will pass on my concerns in relation to the Beechpark services of the HSE. Since a school in my constituency - Scoil Chiaráin in Donnycarney - contacted me about this service, I have been contacted by other schools about it. The authorities at Scoil Chiaráin have been told that Beechpark will not provide any more speech and language therapy services to children of primary school age in this term. No guarantees have been received with regard to the next term. There are 18 children in the unit at the school in question. According to the letter I received from the school, "twelve children will now rely solely on their class teacher for SLT support". This is an untenable situation. Beechpark has provided work for the children to do within their mainstream classes, which is not the best way to proceed with children who are so vulnerable and needy. According to a letter I have received from a parent at the same school:

Our son is on the ASD spectrum and is currently attending an outreach ASD class in Scoil Chiaráin C.B.S. on Collins Avenue. We were recently informed that our son will not be receiving any in-school Speech and Language support during this new school term. The reason being that Beechpark, the HSE providers, are unable to fill a senior SLT position due to the on-going embargo on recruitment. Therefore their current SLTs are being stretched to the limit, resulting in our son losing out on crucial language therapy. It is imperative that our son has every opportunity to continue to develop his social and communicative skills. We are very concerned as to how this loss in support will hinder his development, going forward.

Twelve children will now rely solely on their class teacher for SLT support. Our children are enrolled in our outreach classes with the hope that they will be able to integrate full time with mainstream. How can this happen when their supports are being withdrawn? Communication is an essential area of development for children with autism.

Everyone understands the economic situation, but that is cold comfort for parents whose children desperately need these services. We are faced with the prospect of saying to the parent of a child on the ASD spectrum that he or she will have to stay within his or her mainstream class for this term, and possibly the next term, because one of the senior speech and language therapy positions within this service cannot be filled as a result of the recruitment embargo. If we believe in education as a great liberator and if we believe in the potential of every child, regardless of his or her learning difficulties, surely we cannot stand over this position. I have been told by the representatives of disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged schools in my constituency - the school in this case is a disadvantaged school - that they know of children who have been waiting for two years to access the services they need, including occupational therapy services and the speech and language therapy services that are provided by Beechpark. When they finally get those services, it is a great thing for the school. In this case, Coláiste Chiaráin has been told some of its pupils will have to do without certain services because of the recruitment embargo. I am sure the Minister of State will agree that the children in this unit deserve an awful lot better. I will be interested to hear his response.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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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.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour)
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With all due respect, if I go back to the parents with this answer, they will not be very impressed. They will not be impressed with an indication of the overall economic situation, which they have been told of to death, and they will not necessarily be impressed by a review group. The situation is that a senior speech and language therapy position is not being filled. Reviews are wonderful, but the problem is there are 12 children on the autism spectrum who are being told to go back to class. They are being told, "Here is some work you can do in your classroom with your class teacher". It is completely unfair, not just to the children and their parents, but also to the teacher, who is completely incapable of dealing with the situation presented to him or her.

I would ask for a more sympathetic and more realistic answer from the Minister. These are very needy and vulnerable children who have fantastic capabilities and potential. This school received a letter from Beechpark on 20 December stating that the senior speech and language position at the school cannot be filled and that it would not have any service in the first term of 2013 and possibly in the term after that. That is an unsustainable position. A school has to plan for an entire year. The Minister of State will probably agree with me that it is far from an ideal position. I would ask for more than a commitment to a review because a review does not take account of the specific situation in which we find ourselves, where the children are being left without the services they need.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Being a teacher himself, the Deputy knows only too well the challenges facing children and I fully respect what he has said. I would ask him to engage with Mr. James O'Grady, whom the Deputy has possibly met, Professor Michael Fitzgerald and Dr. Fiona Keogh. It is very important that the school would engage with the review group in regard to how best to facilitate Beechpark. This report is near completion and the Minister, Deputy Reilly, will be very sympathetic in this regard. As the Deputy knows, however, there is an embargo on recruitment. It is a question of utilising the services that are there to serve the greatest possible need.

The expert group is to make a recommendation on the Beechpark autism services in north Dublin very shortly. It would be very important that they are invited to the school as they might be able, in some way, to come up with an idea to deal with the important issue raised by the Deputy. It might be advisable for the Deputy to engage directly with the review group and I wonder whether the principal of the school has met the members of the group, which is another possible avenue.

Review groups are important and they are not just talking shops. The Minister has appointed the group with a mandate to come back with suggestions as to how best to maximise the services in north Dublin, which will be to benefit of everybody. I strongly advise the Deputy to engage with the chair and with Professor Michael Fitzgerald to see what exactly is happening and whether the outturn of the review will solve the problem at Beechpark. That is the question we have to answer. Until the Minister, Deputy Reilly, gets that answer, there is nothing he can do.