Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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1909. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality in view of the reported 16,593 children awaiting completion of disability assessments, if she will provide a breakdown of the number of children awaiting an initial assessment of need under the Disability Act 2005, and the subsequent follow-up assessments, by CHO area, at the end of quarter 2 2025; the average and longest waiting times for each category of assessment; the number of assessment officers, therapists, psychologists, and other relevant professionals employed by the HSE to carry out these assessments in each CHO area; the additional funding allocated in each of the past five years to address assessment backlogs; the specific measures with timeframes her Department and the HSE are implementing to reduce the backlog and ensure compliance with statutory assessment timeframes; and whether she will commit to introducing a statutory right to assessment within a guaranteed maximum timeframe. [45139/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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This Government recognises that waiting times for Assessment of Need (AON) are too long and have a significant impact on delivering on the needs of children and their families. Both this Department and the HSE are committed to reducing the timeframes for assessment and have been working intensively to progress measures to achieve this. The provision of an effective and efficient Assessment of Need system continues to be a priority for the Government.

The statutory right to an Assessment of Need and the timeframes within which an assessment should be produced are set out in the Disability Act, 2005. However, 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 (CDNT) 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 a noted 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 targeted 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 building on the €6.89 million allocated in 2024. 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.

While I remain committed to utilising private capacity to support the completion of AON into 2026, we cannot rely on the private sector indefinitely so we must ensure that the public system can meet the clearly growing demand. My 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. This includes improved training for staff involved in the delivery of AONs, additional administrative supports, and plans to increase the numbers of Assessment Officers, Liaison Officers and administrative support.

As well as these operational measures, officials in my Department are currently reviewing potential legislative changes to Part 2 of the Disability Act, which provides for Assessments of Need, in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General to support the effectiveness and efficiency of the AON process. My Department has been working with HSE senior management and experienced clinicians to identify those changes, with the intention of bringing forward legislation in Autumn of this year. It is important to note that any changes will not affect the statutory right of any individual to access an AON.

Data on the number of children awaiting an Assessment at the end of June 2025 is set out in Table 1 below.

It should be noted that the HSE system for collating AON data does not provide further breakdown on length of time overdue but does report that the average duration of the assessment process per report completed nationally in this quarter (Q2 2025) was 24.93 months.

HSE Assessment Officers coordinate and arrange AONs and produce Assessment of Need reports. The current number of whole time equivalent (WTE) Assessment Officers in post by Regional Health Area is as follows:

HSE Dublin & North-East: 7

HSE Dublin & Midlands: 7

HSE Dublin & South-East: 11

HSE South West: 8.1

HSE Midwest: 1

HSE West North West: 5

It is not possible to provide data on the number of clinicians employed by the HSE to carry out assessments as part of the Assessment of Need process. The clinical assessments which inform an Assessment of Need report can be provided by clinicians working in Primary Care, CAMHs or a Children’s Disability Network Team, or by a private provider (under the targeted waitlist initiative) and by one of more clinicians depending on each individual child’s presenting needs. In addition, the provision of assessments as part of the AON can be only one aspect of a clinician’s workload which may also include assessments un-related to AON, as well as other supports for children and their families.