Disability (Amendment) Bill 2026: Second Stage Dail Éireann — 2026-09-23 ============================================================ Keira Keogh (FG), Mayo I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the Disability (Amendment) Bill 2026. For me, disability advocacy is not only a policy area but really personal because for 19 years prior to becoming a TD I worked in the disability sector. I specialised in supporting mainly neurodiverse children at an early intervention level alongside their families and their schools. I know this area really well. I worked in private practice as a choice because my counterparts and colleagues in the HSE tended to have huge caseloads that yielded a lot of stress and overwhelm. I was able to keep my caseload at a manageable low level and see clients and families on a weekly basis, which often yielded very good results and achievements. I know first-hand the struggles that families with disabilities or suspected diagnoses face. Over many years I referred many families to get an assessment of need, mainly to access home tuition at the crucial and very influential early intervention ages, with regard to ten hours of tuition between the ages of two-and-a-half years and three years and 20 hours between three years of age and preschool. As a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Disability Matters I have had the opportunity to hear detailed evidence from stakeholders, service providers, advocacy groups, parents and, most importantly, people with disabilities themselves for whom we cannot and should not make decisions without their input. In my previous role, my role as a member of the committee and my role as a Mayo TD, one message has come through clearly again and again and it is one that we all know. It is that the current assessment of need system is under huge strain and needs reform. This is something we all agree on. The committee on disability matters has heard repeated evidence of long waiting lists, significant demand, staffing pressures and the frustration and upset experienced by families trying to navigate a system that is really complex and difficult to access in a timely manner. As we know, data from 2025 showed that 87% of children in Ireland did not receive their assessment of need within the legally required six-month timeframe. This statistic is deeply concerning because behind every one of these figures is not just a number; a delayed assessment is a child or a family waiting for answers and crying out for support or information. These are real children and families who need to access supports to meet their needs. I know, and it will be said again and again, that people can access primary care without a diagnosis and can access a CDNT without a diagnosis but because there is pressure on these services some people turn to an assessment of need thinking it is a faster pathway to services. Others will definitely still want an assessment of need to understand their diagnoses. As I said, there is then that cohort that wants the diagnosis because, as matters stand, they need it for home tuition or access to an autism class or a special class. I understand from parents that the frustration rarely stems from the assessment itself but, rather, from the delays experienced. Many families, including those living in rural parts of County Mayo, face long delays for specialist appointments and that can delay access to crucial early intervention that would yield some of the most significant developments in the early years of a child's life. Families really want to have a system that is fair, transparent, responsive and focused on identifying the supports their child needs as quickly as possible. On that basis, there are positive aspects to this Bill. A key aim of the Bill is getting the therapists back doing more therapy rather than spending more of their time carrying out assessments. As this new system is introduced, we must ensure that there are always eyes on the child. That is one of my concerns. I want to ensure that at all points there are eyes on the child and that the assessment officer has the necessary expertise to make the crucial decisions. Where a child is found not to meet the disability threshold, that decision should be issued in writing and with clear reasons provided to the family. The parents must also have access to a review and appeals mechanism, because these decisions do have life-changing consequences and families need all possible transparency and fairness and to have confidence in the process. One of the most important changes is the emphasis on a needs-based approach. We all agree that the assessment of needs process should be focused on identifying and understanding a child's needs rather than being consumed by unnecessary bureaucracy and administrative difficulty. In my view, a needs-based approach has the potential to allow professionals to focus their expertise where it matters most: on developing appropriate plans and supporting children to access therapies and services sooner. For families in County Mayo and throughout rural and urban Ireland, outcomes matter. Parents want their child's needs identified early and accurately in order that appropriate health and educational supports can be put in place. It is in this vein that I also welcome the provisions regarding the development of the national statutory guidelines. Families should have confidence that the process is being applied fairly regardless of where they live in the country. I also welcome the provisions in the Bill relating to the withdrawal, closure and reinstatement of applications. It may be the case that this is a practical response to a reality that many families experience, as individual circumstances can change and families might experience illnesses or a need to move, and under the current legislation there is no clear mechanism to facilitate those situations, which can leave applications inactive within the system for extended periods. I am nearly out of time, so I will cut to the end and welcome the legislation. I hope it streamlines the process and clears the backlogs, but I do want to make sure that there are eyes on the child as well during the making of these crucial decisions. --- 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/2026-09-23/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-09-23