Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 February 2026
953. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children in County Meath waiting for an assessment of need at the latest available point in 2025 and 2024; the number of assessments conducted in year to date and in 2024; and the number of applications received in those periods, in tabular form. [10269/26]
View answerThe 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 20,209 applications overdue for completion nationwide at the end of 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 with 5,939 reports completed in 2025. This is a 43% increase nationally compared to the number completed in 2024. However, there is regional variation and this improvement is not reflected in all areas, as the data provided below for Meath shows. This issue is being raised with the local HSE management to understand the reason for the reduced rate of completions.
The HSE do not provide data on a county basis, however data is provided by Regional Health Area (RHA) and Local Health Office (LHO). The data requested for the Meath LHO is as follows:
|
No. of AON applications received 2025 |
468 |
|
No. of AON applications received 2024 |
453 |
|
Total completed 2025 |
120 |
|
Total completed 2024 |
173 |
|
Total overdue end of Q4 2025 |
1171 |
|
Total overdue end of Q4 2024 |
603 |
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 and continued improvement in the delivery of completed assessment reports both nationally and regionally.
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 2026 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 supports to assessment officers to improve the delivery of completed assessment reports across the country.
