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

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. As I said yesterday, in the context of Cyra and all the other Cyras out there, we have secured €11.5 million to address the backlog relating to assessments of need. We are looking to put in place regional assessment hubs in order to clear the backlog at haste. This will enable children to get timely inventions. It will also return us to the position set down in the Disability Act, which states that we should work within a six-month timeframe. Furthermore, we know the old assessment of need was not working. We know the preliminary team assessment was challenged in the core system. We have received from the HSE its third iteration. We have sought independent legal advice on this matter, which I hope to be able to publish in the coming weeks.

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