Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 279: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the action she proposes to take to ensure strategic research into the possible cause or causes of autism here with particular reference to comparison with other European countries; if her attention has been drawn to the strongly held views of parents of children with autism about urgent research in this area; if she or her Department has had discussions with the countries throughout Europe with the highest and lowest incidents of autism and Asperger's syndrome; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42789/08]

John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Health and Children does not collect information on children identified with Autism on a national or international basis. Information pertaining to diagnosis is specifically excluded from the National Intellectual Disability Database as the database is not designed as a medical epidemiological tool. Accordingly the database does not record the incidence of Autism or any other disability.

In 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 (CIHR), Southwest Autism Research and Resource Centre (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:

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

€2.2 million: 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. To-date my Department has not been in any discussions on this specific issue with European colleagues.