Disabilities Assessments

Thursday, 16 July 2026

Ceisteanna (473)

David Cullinane

Ceist:

473. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children waiting for an assessment of need, at the end of July 2026 compared to July 2025, by county, in tabular form; the number of assessments conducted year to date in 2025 and 2026; the number of applications received in year to date 2025 and 2026. [54754/26]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality

The delivery of an effective, efficient Assessment of Need system is a priority for the Government. There has been intensive work by the Department and the HSE to address delays in the provision of Assessments of Need to children and their families.

Children do not require an Assessment of Need to access health services, including Primary Care, Children’s Disability Network Teams or Mental Health Services, or education supports.

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 21,000 applications overdue for completion at the end of Q1 2026.

Comparative data is provided on a quarterly basis to the Department. The most recent data provided by the HSE is for Q1 2026. Data is provided by Regional Health Area and Local Health Office. The data requested by the Deputy is provided below, in Table 1 and Table 2.

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. This is evident in the continued improvement in the number of completed Assessment of Need reports with 5,939 reports completed nationally in 2025. This is a 43% increase compared to the number completed in 2024. The HSE reports that 1,528 Assessment of Need reports were completed in the first 3 months of this year compared to 1,402 in Q1 2025. This improvement is welcome and must continue.

In December 2025, Government announced a series of improvements to the Assessment of Need process. This includes legislative and operational changes which will make it more effective and efficient for children and families. Over time, this should lead to a reduction in the waiting time to receive an assessment.

Importantly, the proposed legislative changes will not remove any rights for parents to apply for an Assessment of Need for their child. They will also not alter the six-month timeline in the Act.

The General Scheme of the Disability (Amendment) Bill has been published on the Department’s website. The Joint Committee on Disability Matters has published its report, following pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill, and the Department is considering its recommendations. An []www.gov.ie/en/department-of-children-disability-and-equality/publications/assessment-of-needs-process-proposed-changes/.

has also been published, providing information on Assessment of Need and the proposed changes.

Legislation is only part of the response. The Department is working with the HSE to identify further opportunities to enhance processes, improve training, and increase administrative supports for HSE Assessment Officers who are responsible for the production of Assessment of Need reports. This includes the establishment of working groups to address learning and development needs and to develop statutory guidelines.

The HSE continues to progress actions to address the wider issue of access to services and supports for children with disabilities including:

• Introduction of a Single Point of Access system by the HSE. The model will be rolled out this year and will make it easier for families to be referred to the right service as early as possible, whether that is primary care, CDNT or mental health services. It aims to streamline referrals and reduce duplication, so children do not end up on multiple waiting lists.

• Implementation of the Autism Assessment and Intervention Pathways Protocol which was launched in May 2026. This will provide a standardised assessment process for autism across primary care, mental health and disability services.

• The creation of eleven new HSE teams, initially, to support assessment processes, including Assessment of Need, providing clinical guidance and administrative supports.

It is intended that these improvements to the AON process will result in a noticeable reduction in waiting times for children and their families across the country.

Table 1 includes a comparison between years 2026 and 2025 in relation to applications received and the number of assessment reports completed by Regional Health Area (RHS) and Local Health Office (LHO):

LHO	No. of applications received Q1 2026	No. of applications received by end of 2025	No. of assessment reports completed Q1 2026	No. of assessment reports completed by end of 2025
HSE Dublin and North East	1002	3282	392	2027
Cavan/Monaghan	94	133	12	21
Louth	182	659	1	219
Meath	13	468	17	120
North Dublin	397	1090	212	1004
Dublin North Centre	101	286	42	133
North West Dublin	215	646	108	530
HSE Dublin & Midlands	1112	3453	336	970
Dublin South City	107	291	20	56
Dublin South West	223	749	77	193
Dublin West	210	685	59	131
Kildare/West Wicklow	259	858	41	162
Laois/Offaly	186	613	68	234
Longford/Westmeath	127	257	71	194
HSE Dublin & South East	688	2574	412	1453
Carlow/Kilkenny	63	267	42	203
Tipperary S.R	54	142	26	150
Waterford	63	307	51	176
Wexford	110	408	67	261
Dublin South East	99	318	47	150
Dublin South	87	393	56	138
Wicklow	212	739	123	375
HSE South West	596	2265	284	1061
Kerry	44	209	26	91
Cork North	106	455	54	232
Cork North Lee	218	814	118	432
Cork South Lee	186	650	68	239
Cork West	42	137	18	67
HSE Mid West	60	303	16	122
Clare	15	75	5	28
Limerick	21	151	8	50
Tipperary N.R	24	77	3	44
HSE West & North West	356	1309	88	306
Donegal	49	170	23	67
Sligo/Leitrim	64	254	42	135
Galway	132	447	4	27
Mayo	84	310	11	42
Roscommon	27	128	8	35
Total	3814	13186	1528	5939

Table 2 provides a comparison between the years 2026 and 2025 in relation to the number of assessment reports overdue by Regional Health Area (RHA) and Local Health Office (LHO):

LHO	No. of assessments overdue by end Q1 2026	No. of assessments overdue by end Q2 2025
HSE Dublin and North East	6608	5204
Cavan/Monaghan	578	396
Louth	1176	793
Meath	1324	817
North Dublin	1973	1833
Dublin North Centre	450	351
Dublin west North	1107	1014
HSE Dublin and Midlands	7772	6143
Dublin South City	687	524
Dublin South West	2003	1602
Dublin West	1848	1537
Kildare/West Wicklow	2287	1828
Laois/Offaly	881	606
Longford/Westmeath	66	46
HSE Dublin and South East	3204	2524
Carlow/Kilkenny	153	160
Tipperary S.R	86	85
Waterford	220	169
Wexford	287	231
Dublin South East	593	457
Dublin South	631	459
Wicklow	1234	963
HSE South West	2004	1359
Kerry	110	67
Cork North	460	333
Cork North Lee	813	620
Cork South Lee	524	288
Cork West	97	51
HSE Mid West	595	447
Clare	109	68
Limerick	311	232
Tipperary N.R	175	147
HSE West and North West	1599	916
Donegal	393	317
Sligo/Leitrim	91	41
Galway	568	256
Mayo	422	244
Roscommon	125	58
Total	21782	16593