Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 578: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the grounds on which persons with autism or Asperger's syndrome are not included in the national intellectual disabilities database; the measures taken to compile data on this intellectual disability; the action she has taken to improve service provision and future service requirements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34501/09]

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 and Asperger's on a national 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.

With regard to the remaining matters raised by the Deputy, these relate to the management and delivery of health and personal services, which 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 these matters investigated and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.