MP hopeful that specialist speech unit can be saved

LAGAN Valley MLA Jeffrey Donaldson has said he is hopeful a solution can be found to the funding crisis which threatens the future of the specialist ICan centre in Ballynahinch which helps nursery children with speech and language difficulties.

A motion is to be tabled at the assembly next week and Mr Donaldson, who attended a rally this week in support of the centre, said that with cross party support he believed the unit could remain open.

Parents and politicians gathered at the rally at Stormont on Tuesday to highlight the situation and urged the Education Minister to help secure the centre's future.

Staff at the ICan centre received a letter recently from the South Eastern and Education and Library Board to say that they were trying to get funding but feared that there would be redundancies. The Minister has made it clear she has not cut the funding and said the decision lies with the SEELB. However, she said she would be speaking to the Board to ask how they intended to cater for children with speech and language difficulties if they did not provide the money to keep the centre open.

Mr Donaldson called the unit a 'vital resource for the community' and said he hoped it would be saved.

"I was delighted to host the visit to the assembly by the parents whose children attend or who have previously attended the unit," he said.

He praised the excellent work that ICan has done over the years to help pre school children who need specialised speech therapy and said only a relatively small amount of funding would be needed to secure its future.

He said he believed that the Assembly motion would put pressure on the Department of Education and the Department of Health to find a solution to keep the unit open not just next year, but for the long term.

"We are fully supportive of the parents in their campaign," he said. "We are hopeful that sense will prevail and that the specialist support offered to children in ICan will remain."