Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 18 Jun 2002

Vol. 553 No. 2

Written Answers. - Special Educational Needs.

Joe Higgins

Ceist:

239 Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Education and Science the measures his Department intends to take to redress the shortage of qualified speech therapists, which has resulted in children with special needs being denied an appropriate education; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13203/02]

Minister for Education and Science (Mr. N. Dempsey)

The provision of an additional 175 professional therapy training places to tackle the shortage of physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists was announced on 29 May 2002. These places are being provided in response to the recommendations set out in the report from Dr. Peter Bacon and Associates on current and future supply and demand conditions in the labour market for physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists, which was launched in July 2001.

The recent announcement follows on the work of an interagency 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; and University of Limerick, 25 places, Master of Science in Speech and Language Therapy.

It is expected that the first intake to these courses will commence in the 2002-03 academic year. While responsibility for the provision of speech therapy services to school going pupils is a matter for the relevant health board, such services are an essential part of the support programme required in schools for pupils with specific speech and language disorders.

The sanctioning of speech and language units is contingent on the availability of speech and language therapists. There are currently in the region of 56 speech and language units attached to mainstream schools nationwide and additional units will be provided on an ongoing basis.