Government proposals could undermine children’s disability assessments and result in the misdiagnosis of their conditions, Social Democrats TD Liam Quaide has warned.
Deputy Quaide, who is the party’s spokesperson on disability, said:
“When recently pressed on the crisis in disability services, the Taoiseach’s main proposal was a change in legislation to reduce the length of Assessments of Need (AON), which he claimed are taking up to 90 hours to complete. However, this figure is an outlier and not representative of average assessment durations.
“The Taoiseach has failed to acknowledge that successive governments he led placed severe restrictions on recruitment to primary care disability services, which resulted in spiralling waiting lists.
“Reducing assessment requirements was previously attempted by the HSE in 2020 with the ill-fated Preliminary Team Assessment (PTA). In 2022, the High Court ruled that the PTA was clinically inadequate and did not comply with the requirements of the Disability Act 2005, resulting in almost 10,000 assessments having to be repeated.
“The HSE is currently piloting a new assessment and intervention protocol for autism which risks repeating the same errors of the past. The Irish Association of Occupational Therapists (IAOT) has warned of substandard assessments as a result of the protocol significantly diluting professional standards.
“The Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI) also believes there is potential for misdiagnosis. This could lead to a detrimental long-term impact on an individual’s developmental, educational and social/emotional trajectories as a result of not having access to the appropriate supports to meet their needs.
“In addition, the Irish Association of Speech and Language Therapists (IASLT) has expressed significant concerns regarding governance in the protocol.
“A parents’ representative group known as ‘Families Unite for Services and Support’ (FUSS) has also highlighted ‘inadequate’ and ‘tokenistic’ consultation on the protocol, and raised concerns about its compliance with disability law.
“It is significant that the same representatives of clinicians and families also sounded the alarm about the HSE’s Preliminary Team Assessment back in 2020.
“The government needs to clarify if it intends to amend the 2005 Disability Act in order to water down the requirements for Assessments of Need.
“The government should be investing in comprehensive recruitment drives for primary care services and Children’s Disability Network Teams (CDNTs) instead of attempting to undermine clinical standards and disability rights. We need to see the right to intervention, not just assessment, enshrined in law.”
June 3, 2025