Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 January 2026
859. Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children currently waiting for assessment of needs in County Kilkenny; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4013/26]
View answer860. Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children currently waiting for assessment of needs in County Carlow; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4014/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 859 and 860 together.
The delivery of an effective, efficient Assessment of Need system is a priority for the Government. There has been intensive work by the Department of Children, Disability and Equality and the HSE to address delays in the provision of Assessments of Need.
Under the Disability Act, an Assessment of Need is an assessment process carried out by the HSE where a person is of the opinion that he/she may have a disability, for anyone born after 1st June 2002. It first establishes whether the person has a disability (as defined within the Act). It then identifies the health and education needs of the person with a disability and the services required to meet those needs.
It is important to note that children do not require an Assessment of Need to access health services, including Primary Care, Children’s Disability Network Teams or Mental Health Services.
However, demand for Assessments of Need has increased significantly in recent years, reflecting both the increase in population and the number of families exploring all options to access services for their child. The impact of this increased demand has contributed to there being over 18,000 applications overdue for completion nationwide at the end of September 2025, according to the most recently available HSE data.
More positively, there has been continued improvement in the number of completed assessment of need reports. Over 4,500 reports were completed in the first nine months of 2025 – a 57% increase compared to the same period in 2024.
The HSE provides Assessment of Need data on a quarterly basis but has advised this data is not available on a county level. However, data is available at Local Health Office (LHO) level. As Carlow and Kilkenny are part of the same LHO (Carlow/Kilkenny LHO), I will respond to both PQs together.
The most recent available HSE data shows that 145 Assessment of Need applications were overdue for completion in the Carlow/Kilkenny LHO at the end of September 2025. This number includes all assessment reports that were not completed within 6 months of receipt of an application for AON.
Applications for Assessment of Need have increased in the LHO compared to the same period in 2024, with 184 applications in the first nine months of 2025 compared to 143 applications for the whole of 2024. However, there has also been a notable increase in the number of completed AON reports with 148 reports completed by the end of September 2025, compared to 68 over the full year in 2024.
In December 2025, Government announced a series of reforms to the Assessment of Need process which will make the process more effective and efficient for children and families. Over time, this should lead to a reduction in the waiting time to receive an assessment.
This reform includes changes to Part 2 of the Disability Act, 2005, which provides for Assessments of Need. The General Scheme of the Disability (Amendment) Bill 2025 which outlines these proposed changes was approved by Government on 9 December and will be published on the Department’s website shortly.
Any proposed legislative changes will not remove any rights for parents to apply for an Assessment of Need for their child, nor will they alter the statutory six-month timeline set out in the Disability Act.
Other aspects of the reform include:
• The development of statutory guidelines to ensure that Assessments of Need focus on identifying a child’s needs, engaging in more intensive assessments only where required to identify need. This should help reduce delays and allow therapists to spend more time delivering services.
• The establishment by the HSE of eleven new teams, initially, to support HSE assessment processes, including Assessments of Need. Each team will include a psychologist, a speech and language therapist, an occupational therapist, and an administrator, providing clinical guidance throughout the process.
The provision of an effective and efficient Assessment of Need system continues to be a priority for the Government.
