Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 January 2026
872. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children waiting for their AON appointment in the HSE Dublin and North East health region (formally known as CH09), in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4343/26]
View answer874. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children waiting for their AON appointment in all CHO regions, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4345/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 872 and 874 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. In 2025, the HSE moved from reporting on this data at Community Health Organisation (CHO) level to Regional Health Area (RHA) level. As these PQs refer to ‘all CHOs’ and ‘CHO9’, I propose to respond to these questions together.
The following table sets out the requested data by RHA for the first nine months of 2025, which is the latest data available. As it is unclear what is meant by “AON appointment”, the data provided is for the number of assessment reports that were not completed within 6 months of receipt of an application in the 6 Regional Health Areas, including HSE Dublin and North East:
|
AON Data by RHA
|
Number of applications overdue for completion at the end of Q3 2025 |
|
HSE Dublin & North East |
5577 |
|
HSE Dublin & Midlands |
6585 |
|
HSE Dublin & South East |
2752 |
|
HSE South West |
1569 |
|
HSE Mid West |
482 |
|
HSE West & North West |
1132 |
|
TOTAL |
18097 |
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.
