Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 4 May 1994

Vol. 442 No. 3

Written Answers. - Speech Therapist Appointment.

Colm M. Hilliard

Ceist:

185 Mr. Hilliard asked the Minister for Health if he will, as a matter of urgency sanction the appointment of a speech therapist for a special school (details supplied) in County Meath to cater for the children requiring this service among the 60 children enrolled at the school.

Minister for Health (Mr. Howlin):

The provision of speech therapy services is a matter, in the first instance, for the North Eastern Health Board.

At present, the North-Eastern Health Board provides a limited speech therapy service to the children attending this particular school. £1.5 million has been made available this year for services for people with a physical handicap and I expect that a proportion of this will be devoted to improving and expanding community-based therapy services, including speech therapy. An application has been received from the North-Eastern Health Board for additional staff, including speech therapists, and this application is being considered at present.

One of the reasons for the inadequacy of the speech therapy services is the lack of sufficient numbers of trained speech therapists. My Department has taken steps to remedy the situation by arranging for six extra training places to be provided at the School of Clinical Speech and Language Studies, Trinity College, Dublin, commencing in the 1992-93 academic year. The total student body will increase in phases from 80 students in 1992 to 104 students in 1995-96. The increased level of graduate output resulting from this important development should ease difficulties in the area of speech and language therapy in the medium to long term.