Vol. 565 No. 4
86 Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Education and Science the steps his Department is taking to implement in full and immediately the recommendations contained in the 2001 Bacon Report, entitled Current and Future Supply and Demand Conditions in the Labour Market for Certain Professional Therapists, as it applies to physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists. [11183/03]
87 Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Education and Science the way in which his Department intends to tackle the crisis in the supply of therapists for people with special needs in the short-term, given that even the full and immediate implementation of the recommendations contained in the 2001 Bacon Report on therapists would not solve shortages in these therapy areas until 2015. [11184/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 86 and 87 together.
In May 2002 my predecessor, Deputy Michael Woods, announced the provision of 175 additional therapy training places to tackle the shortage of physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists. The shortage was identified by the report on professional therapists undertaken by Dr. Peter Bacon and Associates in 2001. The announcement followed on the work of an interagency working group comprising representatives from my Department, the Department of Health and Children and the Higher Education Authority. The group was established to ensure the provision of these extra places. It considered proposals received from a number of third level institutions for the expansion of existing courses and-or the introduction of new courses, including graduate entry programmes. The distribution of the additional places is as follows:
