asked the Minister for Health if he has at present any plans to provide increased facilities and institutions for the care, education and training of mentally handicapped children of various types; and, if so, whether he will outline such plans, and state when they are likely to be put into execution.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Mentally-Handicapped Children.
2.
Extensions of existing institutions for the mentally handicapped are projected which will provide about 240 further beds, i.e., 120 beds at the Home and School of the Immaculate Conception, Cregg House, Sligo; 90 beds at St. Mary's, Delvin, County Westmeath and 30 beds at St. Vincent's, Lisnagry, County Limerick. The work at Sligo is already in progress. It is expected that work at Devlin will commence shortly. The Lisnagry scheme is being planned. In addition proposals for adaptation of buildings to provide 50 further beds at Stewart's Hospital, Palmerstown, Co. Dublin, are at present under consideration by the hospital authority. It is estimated that the grants necessary to finance these works may total about £500,000. When all these beds will have been provided the total accommodation available for the mentally handicapped will be about 3,000 beds or almost three times the number which was there in 1947.
These developments should help to relieve pressure as an interim measure but for the reasons set out in the White Paper published in March, 1960, it is desirable that the whole problem of mental handicap should be examined comprehensively and a Commission of Inquiry has been set up for that purpose. Further extensions of existing institutions for the mentally handicapped have been proposed but the question of providing more accommodation is linked with the issues which will be considered by the Commission of Inquiry, e.g., staffing of Institutions, training of staff, type of institution to be provided, development of day-training centres, etc.
The Minister mentioned a figure of 3,000 beds being made available under the existing expansion plan. What relation does that bear to the Minister's estimate of the total number of children requiring institutional treatment—or have we such an estimate ?
I could not answer that categorically. The total number of mentally-handicapped children is estimated to be about 7,000. All of these would require institutional treatment and the tendency is to get away from it.
When the Minister refers to plans for increasing the number of beds is there, coupled with that, increased facilities for education and training?
We are trying to get that to the extent to which it is possible for us to train——
What I mean is that an increase in the availability of beds rather presupposes that the other increased facilities for training and education will come along with the extra beds?
Yes.