Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent)
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393. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 301 and 330 of 24 May 2016, the number of school leavers from special education to whom the Health Service Executive offered a funded service in 2016 but who said they did not wish a specialist centre-based service but would prefer a community-based service which connected them to mainstream supports, as per the national disability strategy, and the new directions and comprehensive employment strategy for people with disabilities. [15325/16]

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent)
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394. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 301 and 330 of 24 May 2016, the number of school leavers from special education who will be without a service in September 2016. [15326/16]

Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 393 and 394 together.

This Government is committed to providing services and supports for people with disabilities which will empower them to live independent lives, provide them with greater independence in accessing the services they choose, and enhance their ability to tailor the supports required to meet their needs and plan their lives. This is particularly important at key transition points, including the transition from school to adult life, and for this reason the Programme for Government contains a commitment to ensuring that all 18 year old school leavers with disabilities have continued education or training opportunities.

Many school-leavers with disabilities will progress to mainstream education, training and employment. Some however will require continuing health-funded supports, and to ensure that the needs of this cohort are met, funding of €7.25m has been allocated by the HSE in 2016 to provide appropriate services and supports. Once off funding of €2 million is also being provided for the refurbishment and fit-out of buildings to provide suitable service locations by September, based on an assessment of the physical capacity within existing services to accommodate the additional numbers. In addition, I am pleased to confirm that a proportion of the additional €3m secured for disability services last week will also fund new initiatives to meet the needs of this year’s school-leavers.

As the Deputy's specific questions relates to service matters, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the Health Service Executive (HSE) for direct reply to the Deputy. If a reply has not been received from the HSE within 15 working days, the Deputy can contact my Private Office and they will follow the matter up with the HSE.