Disabilities Assessments Dail Éireann — 2026-09-17 ============================================================ Emer Higgins (FG), Dublin Mid-West The Department and the HSE are working intensively to address delays in the provision of assessments of need to children and their families. There has been significant increase in demand for assessment of need in recent years. Applications have risen from 4,700 in 2020 to over 13,000 in 2025. That reflects both the increase in population and the number of families exploring all options to access services for their child. Unfortunately, demand has outpaced the capacity of our system to respond. While the HSE does not provide assessment of need data by county, data is provided by regional health area and local health office, so I am able to give the Deputy specifics for Cavan and Monaghan. The most recent data for Cavan-Monaghan LHO is for quarter 2 of 2026 and shows that 634 applications were overdue for completion at the end of June. Of these, 543 were overdue for more than three months. Up to June of this year, 123 assessment of need applications were received in Cavan and Monaghan for 2026. It is clear that change is needed, not just in Cavan-Monaghan but across the country. There has been progress over the past two years with a notable increase in the number of completed applications. Over 5,900 AON reports were completed in 2025, a 43% increase compared with the year previous. Some 3,043 assessment reports were completed in the first six months of 2026. This improvement must continue. Significant legislative and operational work continues to improve the AON process and over time will reduce waiting times. This includes continuation of the targeted waitlist initiative, improved training and guidelines for assessment officers and the targeted amendment of the Disability (Amendment) Bill, which was brought to Cabinet this week, to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the AON process. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-17/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-17