Currently, an assessment of need can take up to 30 hours and therapists have said they are spending one third of their time carrying on these rather than providing therapy to children. Ms Foley said clinicians \u201cspoke about their moral dilemma in prioritising [assessment of need] reports over children on Children\u2019s Disability Network Teams [CDNT] waiting lists.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need therapists to be therapists, and this reform is designed to achieve that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Department of Education will agree to a new process, \u201cto remove the requirement for professional reports, such as Assessment of Need reports, from entry requirements for special schools and special classes,\u201d Ms Foley\u2019s department announced.<\/p>\n
![\"Minister](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/RT7YQ5OOXTWGKISZA3LVPJP3ME.JPG\")
Minister for Children, Disability and Equality Norma Foley. Photograph: Sam Boal\/Collins <\/p>\n
Ms Foley said it was her hope that the Department of Education would have the new system in place for the September 2027 academic year. This which would mean that by October 2026 parents would be aware they did not need a traditional assessment of needs in order to access a special class or a special school. <\/p>\n
Many parents seek an assessment in order to access health or educational support for their children. Because of the long waiting lists, many parents choose to pay thousands of euro to a private psychologist to carry out an assessment rather than waiting for one through the HSE. <\/p>\n
Ms Foley said that under a new law agreed by Cabinet on Tuesday, her department will set up 11 new teams, made up of over 40 experts including psychologists, speech and language therapists and occupational therapists, to speed up the assessment of need process. <\/p>\n
However, the Minister was unable to confirm if the \u201ctargeted reforms\u201d will mean the State will finally, during the lifetime of this Government, meet its legal requirement to carry out assessments within six months. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is absolutely our intention to reach that goal of six months as quickly as we possibly can. But this is a really complex matter,\u201d Ms Foley said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think we need to be honest with people and say, so we\u2019re moving forward with legislation. Legislation can\u2019t achieve it all. We need better types of practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Foley and Minister of State with Responsibility for Disability Emer Higgins made the announcement on Tuesday as teenage disability rights campaigner Cara Darmody began another protest outside Leinster House. Ms Darmody (15) will this week stage a 50-hour sleep-out protest outside the D\u00e1il in opposition to the length of time it takes for children with additional needs to access an assessment. <\/p>\n
Ms Foley said she wanted to \u201csincerely acknowledge the commitment and passion\u201d of Ms Darmody. <\/p>\n
\u201cI want to reassure Cara and all families waiting for an assessment of need that the Government recognises and shares the concerns that they have raised.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Higgins, who became the super junior minister with responsibility for disability in a mini-reshuffle last month, said in the three weeks she has had her new job she has already met with many parents and families in the \u201cdifficult\u201d position of waiting for an assessment of needs. <\/p>\n
\u201cAt the heart of this is children, children with disabilities, who need access to therapies. And right now, children across Ireland are waiting months and often years for assessments of needs, and that is their statutory right to get that assessment of need. It\u2019s wrong that they\u2019re waiting that long, and it needs to change,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Children with additional educational needs will no longer need an assessment to access a special class or special…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6466,61,60,43,2988],"class_list":["post-183534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-department-of-education","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-norma-foley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}