Vol. 508 No. 5
100 Mr. Aylward asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will make funding available to the South-Eastern Health Board to allow support facilities and speech therapy to be made available to children diagnosed as autistic particularly for children in the south Kilkenny and Waterford areas. [19435/99]
The provision of services to children with autism in the south Kilkenny and Waterford areas is a matter for the South-Eastern Health Board in the first instance. This year I provided in total an additional funding of £1.5 million, with a full year cost of £2.5 million in 2000, for the further development of health-related support services for children with autism. Of this amount, £370,000 was allocated to the South-Eastern Health Board, with a full year cost of £470,000, and I understand that the board have established an additional speech and language therapist post from this funding specifically for children with autism in the Waterford area.
Planning for the continued development of support services for children and adults with autism is included by the South-Eastern Health Board in their overall consideration of the needs in their region.
