Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

I acknowledge the words of congratulation from the Senator, for which I thank her. I will be responding to this Adjournment matter on behalf of the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney. I am pleased to take this opportunity to address the important issues raised by the Senator.

Young people with disabilities leaving school have access to a range of training, employment and day services provided by the public sector. These services are delivered by health and personal social service providers and by FÁS, the national training and employment agency. The Health Service Executive and voluntary agencies funded by the Health Service Executive provide rehabilitative training for persons whose level of disability can make it difficult to access employment. Vocational training is provided by FÁS to assist young people with disabilities progress towards employment on a full-time or part-time basis. FÁS has 2,000 places available for vocational training for people with disabilities. In addition, the HSE and voluntary agencies funded by the HSE provide a range of other day services designed to meet the needs of adults with disabilities.

The HSE employs guidance officers at local level to assist in the transition of young school leavers with disabilities to training and day services. The guidance officer will work with school leavers, their families, school authorities and service providers to ensure school leavers with disabilities have access to appropriate services. As part of the national disability strategy's multi-annual investment programme, the HSE has increased the number of day places for people with intellectual disability by almost 1,500 since 2005. In addition, almost 150 day places have had their services enhanced with the provision of additional supports to allow the places deal with school leavers or other adults with significant disabilities.

The increase in services in recent years has ensured young people with intellectual disabilities have appropriate services in place to ensure a smooth transition from secondary school. In some cases the funding provided supported the school leavers to access appropriate day services in line with a person-centred plan. In many cases this funding provided places for individuals completing rehabilitative training, thereby creating training places for other school leavers.

The Government provided an additional €50 million this year to the HSE to provide for additional developments for people with a disability, including young people leaving school. The national disability strategy is underpinned by a multi-annual investment programme. The funding is being spent on the development of additional health and personal social services for persons with a disability over the period 2006 to 2009.

An additional €50 million was allocated by the Government for the provision of disability services in the budget for 2008. The HSE, in its service plan for 2008, proposes to allocate the €50 million to provide 200 additional residential places for persons with an intellectual disability; 53 additional respite places; 467 additional day care places; 80 additional residential places for persons with a physical and sensory disability; 200,000 additional hours of personal assistance-home support and; 140 additional professional staff to provide assessment and ongoing intervention services for children with disabilities, with particular reference to the implementation of the Disability Act for children under five years of age.

The Office for Disability and Mental Health was established by the Government in January 2008. It brings together responsibility for different policy areas and a range of services that impact on the lives of persons with a disability and persons with mental health difficulties. The main focus of the office is to improve co-ordination and communication across Departments and agencies in the delivery of disability and mental health services. Substantial progress has been made in recent years in the areas of disability and mental health, but we recognise that more needs to be done. The Government's objective is to move the disability agenda to a level that compares with the best in the world. We will do so in partnership with all stakeholders.