Maria Corrigan (Fianna Fail)
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I thank you, a Chathaoirligh, for giving me the opportunity to raise this matter. I congratulate the Minister of State on his recent appointment and wish him every success in the future.

An issue has arisen for young people with disability who attend a range of educational facilities, some of which are special school placements and others of which are in a mainstream school setting. Ordinarily as these young people leave school in June, arrangements are put in place by the Health Service Executive to ensure funding is available to allow them to continue with their placements from the following September onwards. Obviously as leaving school and adjusting to a new setting is quite traumatic and a big step for any person, it is very important adequate preparation should take place. Appropriate training, employment or activation locations should be identified that would meet the needs of the individual young person. Ordinarily at this stage of the year such preparations would be well advanced.

I welcome that in last year's budget the Taoiseach, then Minister for Finance, allocated an additional €50 million for the provision of services for people with disabilities. When I raised the matter of the expenditure of this €50 million in a similar Adjournment debate in the Seanad a number of weeks ago, I received an assurance that every cent of that €50 million would be spent on services for people with disabilities and that part of that funding would go to those individuals who were due to leave school in June. However, some concerns have arisen and it appears that the money has not been committed. This is causing quite a degree of anxiety and uncertainty for parents. It has slowed the process of identifying appropriate settings, locations and placements for these young people from September onwards. They are not getting the opportunity to prepare for the transition and to go to view the locations they are hoping to attend from September onwards for fear that the money we have allocated in the budget for 2008 will not be committed from September.

I would appreciate it if the Minister of State could alleviate that anxiety and concern being experienced by those young people and their parents, and confirm to the Seanad that the money that was allocated in the budget will be spent to ensure these young people will be able to continue their development come September 2008 and allow us to bring an end to any anxiety being experienced. I ask the Minister of State to confirm also that the remainder of the €50 million will still be spent in the disability area and not used, as has been suggested, to offset an overspend by the HSE.

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Maria Corrigan (Fianna Fail)
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The response only reiterates what I was told a number of weeks ago when I asked whether the money would be spent on disability. I am certain of the Government's commitment to disability, and of the allocation of the €50 million. However, experience has told me that while the Health Service Executive informs us and the Government that it is allocating money to a particular area, the evidence shows — as with A Vision for Change last year — that the HSE does not go on to spend the money in the area that has been identified. That is not acceptable.

I appreciate that the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran, is taking the matter on behalf of the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney. I urge him to convey my concerns to her and to ensure that this year we will be in a position where we can believe that the money we allocated for disability will be spent on it, and that at the end of the year we will not be told it was not possible to spend it in that area. We now have a chance to intervene. The evidence is that those preparations are not taking place and that parents have been told it is not possible to ensure a place will be available for their children in September.

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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I assure the Senator and the House that I will convey her views to the Minister and outline the concerns she has expressed following my contribution.