(Cavan-Monaghan): Is the Minister aware that there is still great difficulty in finding suitable places in institutions for young people who cannot be kept at home and who badly need to be institutionalised? Is he aware of the problem arising when these young people who are being accommodated reach the age of 16 or 17 and are no longer kept in the institutions which cater for young people and a suitable alternative home or institution cannot be found? The parents go through great stress for perhaps a year under threat of having the child sent home to them when the child is not suitable for living at home.

Yes, I accept that. The bottleneck is in the provision of residential places for the adults. It works both ways. First, the accommodation is not there for the adult mentally handicapped person. Also, when some in-patients grow from childhood to adulthood they stay on in the institution and occupy a place which should be reserved for a child. So, the real need is for adult residential accommodation. That is why in our building programme we are concentrating on those. When the works began in 1978 are completed we shall have 700 extra places. At the moment we are planning a capital programme for 1979 and we shall almost certainly be giving priority to adult accommodation.

(Cavan-Monaghan): Could the Minister give any indication of when more places will be available?

They will be coming on stream next year and the year after. Probably by 1980 they will be all there.