Brendan Daly (Fianna Fail)

I join in welcoming the Minister of State, Deputy Tim O'Malley, to the House. He will be aware that more than one year has passed since he outlined in a thorough way his Department's proposals and initiatives to deal with the issues facing people with these problems.

Today is a great day for people with special needs, because earlier in the day, the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, Deputy Brian Lenihan, outlined the details of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003. One of the difficulties is to try to precisely define who is responsible for what at the initial stages, when it is identified that a person has special needs. This may be manifested at a very early stage, before a child goes to school. It is at this initial stage when parents are distraught that they may be irritated and agitated by the response they get when seeking information. It is timely that the Departments of Health and Children, Education and Science and Finance and whatever other Departments are involved work together to address this.

I note that in the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Bill 2003, there are many references to dealings with the health boards, but very soon the health boards will no longer exist. In my view, the demise of the health boards will create a vacuum and issues of a local and regional nature will be dealt with differently. The health services executive is now taking shape, but already the spina bifida organisation has identified that it will not be catered for under a scheme. It is time a one stop shop was put in place where people could go for information and advice on how to deal with the issue confronting them, in particular in cases such as autism.

When the Minister of State opened the debate some time ago, he gave a comprehensive report on the number of entrants to the various professions but as he is aware, occupational therapists, speech therapists and psychologists are in short supply and in many cases, in spite of the positions having been advertised, the health boards, such as that in my area, have been unable to fill the jobs. Although we have adequate funding, and the jobs have been advertised, people have not taken up the positions. My colleague, Senator Dooley, mentioned that the Peninsula Carers who made very strong representation to us recently and outlined their frustrations and annoyance that a service on offer could not be provided because the staff were not in place. In my opinion, people are not interested in taking up positions in isolated locations. It is a source of annoyance when people cannot find the professional help they need at a time when they are most in need of support. One of the challenges facing the Government is how to provide a service in isolated areas, whether through outreach programmes from existing established centres or by making transport available to the centres where professional help is available. There is no doubt that parents and carers are frustrated and disillusioned when the professional help that is needed is unavailable. People expressed their frustrations and growing discontent with services generally during the local elections.

I do not know the solution to the shortage of human resources, but the Minister must take steps to deal with this. In other areas, ways and means were found to accelerate the number of professionals coming to the area to provide a service.

The voluntary organisations are doing tremendous work. A person telephoned a local radio station recently and said that her child would not have received any service but for a voluntary organisation. The person did not make the point that the voluntary organisation was being funded substantially by the Mid-Western Health Board. The health boards provide significant finance to voluntary organisations, but are the first to come out and say enough is not being done and point the finger at the Department of Health and Children. That is not acceptable.

I hope that something will be done for isolated families in remote areas such as the Loop Head peninsula. There is a necessity to co-ordinate activities and I am not certain the new proposal will deal with the immediate problems that arise before a child goes to pre-school or primary school. If autism is to be dealt with successfully, it must be diagnosed and managed as early as possible and certainly before the child goes to primary school.

Research in this area is essential. While there has been a great deal of research into autism there is no substantial evidence yet of a cause. Important research has been conducted in the United Kingdom and the United States on various related issues. Some funding should be provided for major research into the cause of autism, whether through the budget for education or for provisions introduced under the health Bill, promised by the Department of Health and Children, to give local bodies an influence on and a say in the delivery of health services. No one can explain the significant incidence of people with various intellectual disadvantages and the escalating number of children with autism at a time when we have one of the most sophisticated health services in the world. I would support a Government initiative to put substantial funding into research on the causes of these disadvantages.