Additional funding for children with autism very welcome – Harris

Posted January 13th, 2012 in Children, Disability, Health, Special Needs

Hugely important for early intervention

Fine Gael TD for Wicklow, Simon Harris, has today (Friday) welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Health, James Reilly, that an allocation of €1 million in additional funding will be made available to address the needs of children with autism this year. A further €1 million over the next two years, totalling €3 million will also be made.

“I am very pleased with today’s announcement. Every parent of an autistic child knows that early intervention is crucial for their child’s development and to see this additional funding targeted at the roll-out of early intervention schemes is hugely encouraging.

“Supporting children with autism is an issue very close to my heart. I first got involved in politics when I set up a support and lobby group for children with autism. We are all well aware of the challenging economic times we are living in and to receive this good news on a like today, will do two things. First, it will make a real difference to providing services to children with autism and second, it will send out a very clear message that Fine Gael in government is determined to do all that it can to support families living with autism.

“This funding, which will be reflected in the HSE’s Service Plan, will be focussed on addressing waiting times for specialist therapy services for children and on developing Early Intervention Teams.”