Disability Services
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-18
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Ruairí Ó Murchú (SF), Louth

It goes without saying that the issue of assessments of need has been a disaster for a considerable time. There is much unease about the proposals that were put forward. One of the issues with the proposals is that they are only an indication of a proposal. We had an engagement earlier in the week and if we are talking about removing the need for assessments of need in schools, it is a fact that we are talking about something that is a few months away from being completed. Will the Minister of State give an indication of how she and the Department of education will come up with a process and by which means children will be assessed for the appropriate class, special class or mainstream education with supports? That is vital.
The Minister of State has said previously that there is not always a need for an assessment of need to access the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, or primary care but we all know the issues. Children get bounced back and there is a real need to deal with that. The problem with primary care is that the service that was once there is not there at the moment.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:29+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-18