John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 470: To ask the Minister for Health and Children her plans to deal with the breakdown of the speech therapy service in County Mayo in view of the fact that there is no national panel to recruit from and the Health Service Executive is unable to do it another way; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33536/09]

John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 473: To ask the Minister for Health and Children her plan for a national recruitment campaign for the appointment of speech and language therapists; when this campaign will begin; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33539/09]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 473 and 470 together.

There has been a growing demand for, and investment in, speech and language therapy services over the last number of years. A particular priority for my Department and the Department of Education and Science in recent years has been the expansion of the supply of therapy graduates. The Government has also invested heavily in the education and training of such personnel in order to secure a good supply of graduates to provide for the health care needs of the population into the future. In this regard, since 1997, the number of training places for speech and language therapy has been increased from 25 to 105 which represents an increase of 320%.

Almost 130,000 people work full-time or part-time in our public health services. In recent years, the Government's ongoing high level of investment in health has achieved and maintained significant increases in the numbers of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals employed in the public health services. The numbers employed in speech and language therapy has also grown significantly, from 282 whole time equivalents employed in December 1997 rising to 755 whole time equivalents employed in March 2009, which represents an increase of 168%. The Government is committed to ensuring continued adequate recruitment of professional staff across a range of service settings. Additional funding of €20 million has been provided in 2009 for health and education services for children with special educational needs. This includes funding of €10 million provided for health services for children with disabilities. This funding will provide a total of 125 additional therapy posts in the HSE (speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and social workers) targeted at children of school-going age. 90 of these will be in disability services and 35 posts will be allocated to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.

My Department has written to the Health Service Executive setting out the overall approved employment control ceiling for 2009. As part of this approval, written confirmation has been provided to the HSE that the general moratorium on recruitment, promotion and the payment of acting up allowances does not apply to specific designated grades. Delegated sanction has been given to the HSE for the creation and filling of frontline posts including speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and physiotherapy posts. The approval indicated that vacancies in existing posts in these grades may continue to be filled. New posts may also be created in these grades, up to a specified limit, provided that the HSE is satisfied in each case that there is no scope to redeploy an equivalent post from the hospital sector to the primary and community care sector. This moratorium exemption provides for an increase in the number of therapy posts, in line with Government policy, in order to meet the requirements of integrated care delivery and primary care needs particularly in respect of children at risk, the elderly and those with disabilities. The recruitment and retention of these key front line therapy posts, including speech and language therapists, is vital to ensure continued progress in the development of community settings.

Subject to overall parameters set by Government, the Health Service Executive has the responsibility for determining the composition of its staffing complement. In that 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 to the public. With regard to a national recruitment campaign for the appointment of speech and language therapists, as this is a service matter it has been referred to the HSE for direct reply.