Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 269: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of students who graduated from the two year masters course in speech and language therapy in University Limerick in June 2005; the number of students pursuing the BSc courses at University College Cork and National University of Ireland, Galway in 2007; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8974/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The information sought by the Deputy is set out in the following tabular statement. In May 2002, my Department approved the provision of 175 additional therapy training places to tackle shortages of physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists as identified in the report "Current and Future Supply and Demand Conditions in the Labour Market for Certain Professional Therapists", which was undertaken by Dr. Peter Bacon and Associates in 2001 on behalf of the Department of Health and Children.

Commencing from 2003, there has been an increase of 75 places on new courses in Speech and Language Therapy. The additional places were equally divided between the BSc course in UCC, the BSc course in NUIG, and the Masters course in UL. The increase in intake has resulted in a significant increase in the number of Speech and Language Therapists graduating from the third level sector.