Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 252: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of speech therapists which her Department employs; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that even in special schools children in need of speech therapy have to be prioritised to decide if they will receive service; and if she will consider the possibility of her Department delivering speech therapy services to children of school-going age instead of relying on the HSE services that are stretched to meet obligations across the whole community. [30821/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the provision of therapy services for people with disabilities, including speech therapy, is a matter for the Health Services Executive, HSE, and funding is provided to the HSE for such purposes. My Department does not employ speech therapists for the delivery of speech therapy services to schools or determine the children that should receive these services. I can confirm that there are no plans to transfer this function to my Department.