Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent)
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663. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide in tabular form, on a county basis, the number of children who have requested a special needs assessment for 2012, 2013 and the to date in 2014; the number of children over those periods whose assessment commenced within three months of receipt of application; and the number of children whose assessments were completed within six months of receipt of application. [31181/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Part 2 of the Disability Act 2005 was commenced on 1 June 2007 in respect of children aged under 5. In 2008, the then Government decided, in the light of financial circumstances, to defer further implementation of the Disability Act 2005 and the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004. However, in light of legal advice following on a ruling of the High Court, children born after 1 June 2002 are being treated by the HSE as eligible to apply for an assessment under the Act. Part 2 of the 2005 Act provides for an assessment of the needs of eligible applicants, occasioned by their disability, to be commenced within three months of receipt of an application and completed within a further three months.

Although the HSE recognises that it faces significant challenges in respect of meeting the statutory time-frames which apply to the assessment of need process given the number and complexity of cases, it has taken a number of measures to address the issue. While any delay in assessment or intervention for any child is not desirable, the assessment process under the Disability Act can take place in parallel with any intervention which is identified as necessary. The HSE has issued guidance to its staff that where there is a delay in the assessment process, this should not affect the delivery of necessary and appropriate interventions identified for a particular child.

Following the publication of a report commissioned from the National Disability Authority by the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive, a major emphasis is being placed on reconfiguring disability services for children into integrated multidisciplinary geographically-based early-intervention and school-aged teams as part of the implementation of the Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People Programme. This involves the roll-out of a new model of service, the objective of which is to bring about equity and consistency, with a clear pathway for children with disabilities and their families to services, regardless of where they live, what school they go to or the nature of their difficulty. The Programme is a key priority for the HSE in 2014 with an additional €4m allocated to assist in its implementation.

My Department has requested the HSE to provide the Deputy with the detailed operational information that he has sought.