Vol. 548 No. 5
216 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Health and Children if his attention has been drawn to the fact that parents of children in the autistic spectrum are having to pay ?76.18 per hour privately for speech therapy in view of the fact that special classes in a school (details supplied) in Dublin 5 have no access to speech therapy services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5661/02]
Responsibility for the provision of services to persons with an intellectual disability and those with autism in the Dublin area is a matter for the Eastern Regional Health Authority. Additional funding has been made available annually in recent years to the health boards, including the Eastern Regional Health Authority, in respect of the provision of health related support services for children with an intellectual disability and those with autism. However many health boards and specialist service providers have been experiencing difficulties in recruiting allied health professionals and specifically speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and psychologists. This is due primarily to the general shortage of available staff in these grades nationally. Health boards and agencies have been and are continuing to undertake intensive recruitment drives at home and abroad. My Department has asked the health boards and the Eastern Regional Health Authority to explore other approaches which might result in the maintenance of an existing level of service provision or an enhancement in line with agreed service developments using the resources allocated to the services. My Department is also undertaking a number of short, medium and longer term measures to increase the availability of trained staff in these areas.
I understand from the South-Western Area Health Board, which provides services for children with autism on behalf of the authority, that where speech and language therapy services cannot be provided directly by the board, arrangements are in place to provide a grant to the schools in which the special classes for children with autism are located to assist in enabling the children to access these services. My Department has asked the regional chief executive of the authority to investigate the matter raised by the Deputy and reply to him directly.
