Vol. 567 No. 1
232 Ms Harkin asked the Minister for Education and Science the way in which the Government intends to supply the required number of therapists for people with disability in view of the fact that the Bacon report recommended new courses to try to fill the gaps in services and many of these courses have been delayed, thus ensuring that there will be continued shortages in the therapy areas. [13409/03]
In May 2002 my predecessor announced the provision of 175 additional therapy training places to tackle the shortage of physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists. These vacancies were identified by the report Current and Future Supply and Demand Conditions in the Labour Market for Certain Professional Therapists undertaken by Dr. Peter Bacon and Associates in 2001. The announcement followed on the work of an interagency working group comprising representatives from my Department, the Department of Health and Children and the Higher Education Authority was established to ensure the provision of these extra places. It considered proposals received from a number of third level institutions for the expansion of existing courses and/or the introduction of new courses, including graduate entry programmes. The distribution of the additional places is as follows:
University College Cork, National University of Ireland – Cork
25 places – bachelor of science in speech and language therapy
25 places – bachelor of science in occupational therapy
National University of Ireland, Galway25 places – bachelor of science in speech and language therapy
25 places – bachelor of science in occupational therapy
University of Limerick25 places – master of science in speech and language therapy
25 places – master of science in occupational therapy
25 places – bachelor of science in physiotherapy
In 2002 there was an intake to the new physiotherapy course at the University of Limerick. Preparatory arrangements, including the recruitment of necessary staff, are being made by the institutions concerned to enable first intakes to the other additional courses to commence in 2003. These increases are in addition to previous increases in the number of places provided by institutions with existing courses in the 2000-01 and 2001-02 academic years, in response to a request by the Higher Education Authority to expand provision in light of perceived shortages. The provision of these extra places takes account of the full analysis set out in the Bacon report and is in line with the recommendations made.
