Michael Lowry (Tipperary North, Independent)
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557. To ask the Minister for Health the current waiting lists being faced by children in County Tipperary who are awaiting speech and language assessment; his views on whether this wait is acceptable, in view of the importance of early intervention; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15958/14]

Michael Lowry (Tipperary North, Independent)
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604. To ask the Minister for Health the current waiting lists being faced by children in County Tipperary who are awaiting assessment by occupational therapists; his views on whether this wait is acceptable, in view of the importance of early intervention and the impact delays will have on the childs ability to access SNA resource support in school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16292/14]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 557 and 604 together.

Health related therapy supports and interventions for children can be accessed through both the Health Service Executive’s primary care services and its disability services.

The HSE's National Service Plan 2013 provided for additional funding of €20m to strengthen primary care services. This comprises over €18.5m for the recruitment of over 260 primary care team posts and over €1.4m to support community intervention team development.

In terms of disability services, therapy services for children are currently being reconfigured into geographically-based multidisciplinary teams, as part of the HSE’s Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People (0-18years) Programme.The objective of this Programme is to achieve a national, unified approach to delivering disability health services so that there is a clear pathway to services for all children, regardless of where they live, what school they go to or the nature of their disability. The National Service Plan 2014 provides for targeted investment of €4m for the roll out of this Programme which equates to 80 additional therapy posts. The additional investment that is being made in both primary care and disability services and the re-configuration of children’s disability services into geographically-based multidisciplinary teams will have a positive impact on the provision of clinical services for all children requiring access to health related supports.

I have asked the HSE to reply directly to the Deputy in respect of the specific local operational matters that he has raised.