Vol. 562 No. 2
173 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Education and Science the reason a person (details supplied) in County Offaly to whom his Department had allocated two and a half hours resource teaching and a special needs assistant, has now had the facilities withdrawn; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5855/03]
In December 2002, my Department gave provisional sanction for the resources applied for on behalf of the named person. It was made clear in writing that this sanction was subject to verification by the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS). My Department's circular letter 8/02 specifies the criteria for allocating resources in relation to a range of disabilities. In this case, the data supplied in professional reports examined by NEPS did not comply with these criteria. It was not possible therefore to sanction the allocation of the resources applied for.
174 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Education and Science his plans, in view of the national shortage of speech and language therapists, to provide a similar service to that run by his Department in regard to resource teaching; if there is such a plan in place, the possibilities of including St. Mark's Junior School in Tallaght on the rota; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5856/03]
177 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the fact that two language classes in St. Mark's Junior School in Tallaght have been without speech therapy services since June 2002, despite the fact that these special classes were set up by his Department to overcome such speech therapy difficulties; if his attention has further been drawn to the fact that the positions for the two teachers have still not been advertised; the way in which he intends to rectify the problem; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5859/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 174 and 177 together.
The allocation of speech and language therapy services to schools is a matter for the local health authority and I have no plans to become involved in such allocations. With respect to the Deputy's comment relating to advertising two vacant teacher posts for the special classes in question, I am aware that there are two specialised and experienced teachers currently in charge of the classes. Accordingly, there is no need for the board of management to advertise the posts.
My Department is involved in the provision of training places for speech and language therapists. In May 2002 the provision of an additional 75 professional therapy training places to tackle the shortage of speech and language therapists was announced. These places are being provided in response to the recommendations set out in a report from Dr. Peter Bacon and Associates on current and future supply and demand conditions in the labour market for various professionals, including speech and language therapists, which was launched in July 2001. The announcement followed on the work of an inter-agency group, comprising representatives of my Department, the Department of Health and Children and the Higher Education Authority, which was established to ensure the provision of the additional places and which considered proposals from third level institutions for the expansion of existing courses and or the introduction of new courses, including graduate entry programmes, in response to the training needs identified in the Bacon report. The distribution of the additional places in speech and language therapy is as follows: University College Cork, National University of Ireland, Cork; 25 places – Bachelor of Science in Speech and Language Therapy National University of Ireland, Galway; 25 places – Bachelor of Science in Speech and Language Therapy University of Limerick; 25 places – Master of Science in Speech and Language Therapy.
On foot of data received from the Higher Education Authority and based on the number of students in the final year of the courses, it is expected that the number of students graduating in speech and language therapy for the current academic year will be 23.
