I thank Deputy Ó Murchú for his question. This Government is committed to enhancing the delivery of supports and services for all children in Ireland with additional needs, including autistic children. It is important to emphasise that an autism assessment or an assessment of need is not required for a child to access primary care, CDNTs or CAMHS. The Government accepts that waiting lists for assessments of need are too long. We are working to ensure that all children's disability network teams are fully staffed with the appropriate expertise and that the waiting list is reduced. I am advised by the Health Service Executive that the most recent CDNT data available show that there are 2,009 posts filled in CDNTs across the country and 445.4 posts vacant. A workforce survey conducted in April this year shows that staffing levels in CDNTs across the country rose by 8% when compared with a previous review in October last year. By way of comparison, some 29% of posts in CDNTs were unfilled in October 2023. In April this year, the percentage of unfilled posts fell to 18%. This represents an overall growth in the workforce of 414.5 whole time equivalents in CDNTs between October 2023 and April 2025. These posts have been delivered through the concerted efforts of the HSE, my Department and other partners, including the Department of higher education. I recognise the work done to address this issue but I also know the CDNT vacancy rate remains too high and intensive work will continue in this year to bolster CDNT services through ensuring sufficient team members are available across the country.

Sentiment score: 0.25

A number of things are happening here. There is an increased demand for assessments of need. We are all very aware of the reasons for that. For many, it is about getting access to services as well as wanting to know about a disability and getting a diagnosis. All these form part of the demands on the system. The Deputy will know we are doing work through a Cabinet committee on disability. We have been meeting very frequently to examine the assessment of need process. We are rolling out regional assessment hubs across all the regional health areas across the country to get through these waiting lists but this is not just about reducing waiting lists. This is about ensuring that children and adults are getting access to the therapies they require. That is very much at the forefront of my mind. If that requires legislative change, that is something we will look at but we are also doing domestic and international recruitment, incentives for retention, recruitment drives within the CDNTs and going into secondary schools and promoting the value of working within CDNTs and in these positions across the country.

Sentiment score: 0.15

To answer the last question first, ensuring that children have access to the therapies they need is absolutely my priority and our priority as a Government. It is for that reason that my colleague the Minister, Deputy McEntee is continuing the work that myself and the Minister, Deputy Foley did when we were in the Department of Education on special education with in-school speech and language therapists and occupational therapists going in to our special schools. That will also alleviate the demand for these therapies across the country. We are also looking at increasing the clinical placements in CDNTs and developing that pipeline of initiatives to ensure we retain and attract more therapists. In our third level institutions 150 extra speech and language and occupational therapist places were provided from last September. We want to increase that number every year. The Minister for higher education, Deputy Lawless, is working very hard on that. This is a real concerted effort by the Government to ensure that children and adults have access to the therapies they need. I cannot give the Deputy a definitive timeline but I assure him we are working really hard to try to ensure children get access to these therapies.

Sentiment score: 0.30

As I have said, the Government absolutely recognises that waiting times for assessment of need are far too long and we are committed to reforming the assessment of need process. Both this Department and the HSE have been working intensively to progress measures to address these waiting times. I want to emphasise again to parents that while children have a right to apply for the assessment of need, they do not need one to access health services, including those provided by primary care, CDNTs or mental health services. Demand for assessments of need, as we all acknowledge, has increased significantly in recent years, which is a reflection of both the increase in population and an increase in the number of families exploring all options to ensure their children receive appropriate services. The HSE advises that in 2024 it received more than 10,000 assessment of need applications, which is more than double the 4,700 applications received in 2020. The most recent data from the HSE show that at the end of March over 15,000 assessment of needs were overdue for completion. To address this, the HSE is working to increase its capacity to deliver assessment of need. Over the past year, there has been an improvement in the number of assessments of need completed, with an increase of 30% in 2024 compared to 2023. Recent HSE data show that this trend is continuing this year with a 65% increase in completed assessments of need in the first three 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 waiting list initiative agreed by the Government, which targets those families waiting longest for an assessment of need with funding provided for the procurement of assessments from approved private providers. As I said earlier in reply to the Deputy’s colleague, regional assessment hubs are being rolled out by the HSE. They are aligned with the six new HSE regions. We are also reviewing potential legislative changes in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General to support the effectiveness and efficiency of the assessment of need process.

Sentiment score: 0.36

I do not have a breakdown of the numbers of children who have gone through the process but there has been a 65% increase in assessments in the first three months compared with the same period last year. Even with that said, we know we have a lot more work to do to get through that. I might not have said it earlier, but we absolutely acknowledge people’s statutory right to have access to an assessment of need process. What we want to do here is make sure we have the pipeline of therapists coming through. We are relying on the private sector too and we allocated in budget 2025. Those private assessments are being carried out this year. I can get the exact figure. It is approximately 2,800 this year but I will come back to the Deputy to confirm that. We are examining what we can do in regard to therapy assistants to try to assist therapists in getting clinical placements within CDNTs. The Minister for education is ramping up in-school therapies in our special schools. My door is open. If there are other suggestions from the Deputy, I would welcome them.

Sentiment score: 0.14

Regional assessment hubs are being rolled out. We had a meeting with the CEO of the HSE, Bernard Gloster, on that. I can get updated information for the Deputy on that. My understanding is that they are starting to be rolled out. That will help to reduce waiting lists. We have also worked with the HSE to seek to introduce specific recruitment and retention initiatives for therapists to work in CDNTs, along with a CDNT sponsorship programme with bursaries for fourth year and postgraduate students, linked to the acceptance of a traditional job offers. There have been recruitment fairs, including one in May where one of the focus areas was on therapies and therapists. We are going into secondary schools around the country to encourage people to work in social care and talking about the value of working in these areas. There is a huge drive to encourage more people to get into this area. We also need to examine other Departments which are drawing on the assessment of need process where they do not need to and it is not required.

Sentiment score: 0.24