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

The Government is fully aware of the importance of providing assessments under the assessment of need process as set out by the Disability Act of 2005. I affirm my commitment to working to address these waiting lists. I also acknowledge that there are significant challenges that families are experiencing as a result of the current backlog, not just in Deputy Smyth's area but throughout the country.

The High Court judgment delivered in March 2022 directed that the PTA approach did not fulfil the requirements of the assessment of need, and this has further compounded the situation families awaiting AON are facing. To address these issues, an allocation of funding in both budget 2023 and budget 2024 was provided to facilitate CHOs to procure diagnostic ASD assessments through the private sector. The total amount involved in that was approximately €16 million.

Private providers are currently contracted by the HSE and lead agencies to provide assessments, ensuring the contracted providers are appropriately qualified and that any assessments or interventions are provided in line with the appropriate standards. At present, the HSE is working to finalise a procurement process for additional assessments and is in the evaluation stage of that work. As the Deputy will appreciate, I will not be able to speak about anything to do with that process due to commercial sensitivities.

Both my Department and the HSE acknowledge there is more work to be done to address the challenges facing the AON waiting lists and I am totally committed to resolving them. The roadmap for service improvement launched last October will examine the matter of AON from a broader perspective, with the further development of solutions to the challenges of AON taking account of all stakeholders.

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