Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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50. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his Department’s plans to address waiting lists for assessments for children with special needs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25682/23]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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The Government is committed to delivering real and tangible solutions to enhance services to better support the needs of children with special needs in Ireland.

Children with complex special needs access therapy services through the Children’s Disability Network Teams (CDNTs). These services can be accessed through the Assessment of Needs (AON) process but children do not require an Assessment of Needunder the Disability Act to access health services. Many children in receipt of therapy services have not gone through the AON process.

Delays in accessing an AON relates directly to vacancies across the CDNT network and work is ongoing by the HSE to maximise the capacity of CDNTs via recruitment and retention initiatives.

Applications for AON under the Act have risen steadily since its implementation in June 2007. 7144 applications for AON were received in the most recent 4 quarters (Q2, 2022 – Q1, 2023). This was the highest number of applications received in any 12 month period since Part 2 of the Act was commenced in June 2007.

Funding was allocated in Budget 2023 to facilitate additional assessments through a suite of measures including

• Establishment of dedicated AON assessment teams.
• Private procurement and overtime initiatives for existing staff.
• Recruitment of administrative resources to free up therapists in order to assist with AONs.