Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 109: To ask the Minister for Health and Children when she will be in a position to provide a comprehensive diagnostic assessment and support structure for the parents of children with autism; when she will provide the research facilities necessary with a view to identifying the possible causes of the high level of autism here; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22475/08]

John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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In December 2004, the Department of Health and Children, through the Health Research Board, approved expenditure of €5 million on autism research to help improve international understanding of the genetic causes of autism. This €5 million is the Irish contribution to a new major international research initiative called the Autism Genome Project which will receive a total investment of €12 million from a variety of international organisations over the next three years. The other co-funders in the international consortium include Autism Speaks (US), the British Medical Research Council (MRC), Genome Canada and Partners, Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center (SARRC), and the Hilibrand Foundation. This unique combination of international, public and private partners funding a consortium of clinicians and scientists is a new and welcome departure in the field of autism research.

The Health Research Board has informed my Department that this funding was awarded as follows:

€2.8million: Professor Michael Gill, Department of Psychiatry, Trinity College, Dublin

€2.2million: Professor Andrew Green, Director National Centre for Medical Genetics, Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin (affiliated to UCD).

This figure represents the largest tranche of funding to be awarded by any of the four funders within the international consortium. The Irish researchers are at the forefront in unravelling the genetic determinants of autism and related disorders. They are using novel state-of-the-art genetic sequencing technology to analyse DNA samples taken from autistic patients to identify candidate genetic markers for autism. They will collaborate with their international colleagues to then link these genetic markers with clinical outcomes. This unique international research effort will greatly improve not only our understanding of the causes of autism, but its diagnosis and treatment.

The remaining issues in the Deputy's question are the responsibility of the Health Service Executive under the Health Act 2004. 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.