Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 436: To ask the Minister for Health and Children further to Parliamentary Question No. 275 of 6 March 2007, if in view of the serious shortfall in speech and language therapists in counties Kildare and west Wicklow, she will engage speech and language therapists in the private sector to deal with the very serious back-log in regard to such therapy in view of the fact that children are waiting for at least two years for such therapy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9948/07]

Tim O'Malley (Limerick East, Progressive Democrats)
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Arising from the recommendations of the Bacon Report, which was published in 2001, additional courses in speech and language therapy and occupational therapy were established in UCC, NUIG and UL. These courses provided a further 75 places in each discipline.

Subject to overall parameters set by Government, the Health Service Executive has the responsibility for determining the composition of its staffing complement. In this regard, it is a matter for the Executive to manage and deploy its human resources to best meet the requirements of its Annual Service Plan for the delivery of health and personal social services. Accordingly, my Department has requested the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Executive to arrange to have this matter investigated and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.