asked the Minister for Health when the Government propose to give effect to the recommendations contained in the report of the Commission of Inquiry on Mental Handicap of 1966.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Mentally Handicapped Children.
45.
The services for the mentally handicapped are being continually developed and considerable improvements have been brought about since the report of the Commission of Inquiry on Mental Handicap was published. The Commission performed a most valuable task in setting out the lines on which the services in this country could best be developed and it is the Government's intention to press ahead with further developments along these lines as rapidly as circumstances and resources will permit.
Would the Minister direct the attention of the Minister for Health to the new problem that is arising as a result of the, I admit, unavoidable delay in providing accommodation? As we provide the new accommodation, these institutions prefer to take children at an early age, when they can be adapted to institutional treatment, with the result that children who have been waiting for admission for four, five or six years, are now finding it virtually impossible to get vacancies because the institutions feel they can best serve afflicted children by getting them at four or five years of age and so recoil from the responsibility of accepting children at eight, nine, ten or 11 years of age. Would the Minister consider giving local authorities, who are faced with the responsibility of accommodating children in the eight to 12 group, special facilities or, otherwise, these children will not be provided for at all?
I think the Minister is aware of the need for making provision at a reasonably early age. Not all institutions are prepared to accept children except at an early age——
That is the problem.
The number cared for is steadily growing, and so are the numbers applying for admission.
I fully agree that a substantial effort is being made to provide additional accommodation, but there is arising a new problem. As the Minister says, the homes prefer to get the children in the three- to five-year-old group because they think they can better provide for them, but there is a growing residue of children who have been waiting four, five and six years for admission and they are now in the eight- to 12-year group. The homes prefer infants. In those circumstances, perhaps the Minister would give local authorities, who find themselves in the dilemma of having eight- to 12-year-olds, for whom they have not yet found accommodation, some kind of special facilities so that these children will be got into homes. It will be a non-recurring problem, we hope.
I will bring the point to the Minister's attention.