Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising the question. There is a whole-of-government approach to addressing the assessment of needs, under the stewardship of the Taoiseach. We have already met on the issue and option papers are being developed at this time. Regarding the use of the word "was", funding was secured in 2020 to clear the backlog of assessment of needs at that point; it was cleared completely. In each budget since then, we have secured funding to address the growing waiting list for assessment of needs. We are now looking at measures as to how we can provide reimbursements.

See this speech in context