Disability (Amendment) Bill 2026: Second Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-23
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Louise O'Reilly (SF), Dublin Fingal West

I could not agree more with an Teachta Quinlivan. Families are sick of waiting, and they have waited long enough.
I will say to the Minister what I always say when we have a debate like this, that being, persons with disabilities are not disabled or restricted by their own bodies or intellectual capacity. Rather, they are disabled, or restricted, if you will, by an ableist world full of hostile architecture. They are restricted by systems designed to exclude them and they are gravely and seriously disabled by a Government that refuses to listen to them.
It is very welcome that we have the chance to discuss the AON. However, this Bill will not provide for one single solitary speech and language therapist, occupational therapist or special education place more. Without those services, all the chat in this House is not going to make any difference to people's lived reality.
I was looking back through my emails. A woman whom I have met contacted my office recently looking for assistance with an urgent issue affecting her youngest son and her family. She was at pains to point out that when these delays happened, it was catastrophic for the child. Of course it is. That has a knock-on impact on every single person in the family. Effectively, they all wait and they are all locked out. Her youngest child is now facing significant delays and barriers in accessing support at a critical stage of his development. In late 2024, this child was referred by the area medical officer to several services, including a neurodevelopmental clinic. The mother was asked to complete the assessment of need forms and return them to the doctor so that he could add the notes and submit the application. She did this. She delivered them in an addressed envelope to the reception at the doctor's office. Assuming the application had been submitted, the child's mam waited the statutory six months before contacting the assessment of need office to inquire on the progress.
After several weeks of follow-up and being informed that the systems were down, the mam was eventually told that no record of his application could be found. She contacted the area medical office in May 2025. During that phone call, she was informed that there was no AON application on file. She was told not to submit another form because the doctor had no supporting notes, that no supporting notes would be provided and that the office would not support any request to backdate to 2024. She wrote to me to say that her youngest child's needs had continued to escalate significantly. He presents with severe impulsivity, a complete lack of safety awareness, physical aggression and significant behavioural challenges. Unfortunately, because his assessment of need form was never submitted, they are back at the beginning of the process. It fell to me to tell her that her son would now join a list that had 23,282 children on it. This is further compounded by the fact that she now has to start applying for schools, but she has no assessment of need.
This mother has done everything right. She has given up work in order to be able to attend to the needs of her child because the State is not stepping in. Her child is being treated less favourably than other children, but his mam is doing her very best. Access to services that do not exist and being left lying on waiting lists and forgotten about are not good enough. I would not want it for one of my children. I do not think anybody would. It is not fair. In the coming weeks, we will hear the Minister's colleagues talking in the House about the budget and giving themselves a pat on the back for how well they are doing. The Minister should judge it by how long kids are waiting.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-23