Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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2292. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will increase funding for the waiting list initiative to clear the waiting list and backlog for the assessment of need process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41188/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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This Government absolutely recognises that waiting times for Assessment of Need (AON) are far too long and have a significant impact on delivering on the needs of children and their families. Both the Department of Children, Disability and Equality and the HSE have been working intensively to progress measures to reduce waiting times.

It is important to emphasise that, while children have a right to apply for an AON, they do not need one in order to access health services, including those provided by Primary Care, Children’s Disability Network Teams or Mental Health Services. Nevertheless, demand for AONs has increased significantly in recent years, a reflection of both the increase in population and of families exploring all options for accessing services for their child.

Over the past year, there has been an improvement in the number of completed Assessments with over 4,100 completed in 2024, an increase of 30% compared to 2023. Recent HSE data shows that this trend is continuing this year with a 58% increase in completed assessments in the first six months of the year, compared to the same period last year. This has been achieved by a number of measures, including the Assessment of Need waiting list initiative which funds the procurement of capacity from private providers to deliver assessments, targeting those families waiting longest. Funding of €9.5m has been provided for the initiative this year and HSE data to the end of June 2025 shows that almost 5,000 assessments have been commissioned from private providers since the initiative began in June 2024. At all times, government has emphasised that if additional funding is required in this area, it will be forthcoming.

Officials in the Department will continue to review progress in this regard through the HSE and identify further opportunities if they present.

While government remains committed to utilising private capacity to support the completion of AON into the future, we cannot rely on the private sector indefinitely so we must ensure that the public system can meet the clearly growing demand. The Department is working with the HSE to ensure the delivery of actions to support the efficient delivery of Assessments of Need within the public system.

The provision of an effective and efficient Assessment of Need system continues to be a priority for the Government.