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

It is important to say that in every budget in recent years we have secured funding for assessments of need. However, in July this year we changed the approach and secured additional funding which was approved by the Cabinet to enable the provision of private capacity for the delivery of assessments of need for our longest waiters. To date this year, we have increased the number of assessments by 23% on this time last year. It is important to note that more than 1,400 assessments of need have been delivered through private capacity since last July, which shows that the funding secured by the Cabinet has been well used.

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