Minister Announces Reforms to Assessment of Need Process - 15/12/2025

Targeted reforms to improve the Assessment of Need (AON) process for children and their families have been announced.Legislation will be required to introduce the reforms which Minister for Children, Disability and Equality Norma Foley acknowledged would take time.Minister Foley said the reforms will lead to a faster and more efficient way of carrying out AON reports, instead of "tying up therapists' time unnecessarily".Assessment officers will be supported by 11 new teams comprising 44 experts, who will provide clinical guidance and support during the AON process.Each team will include a psychologist, a speech and language therapist, an occupational therapist, and an administrator.We were joined on The Agenda this morning by Sinn Fein TD for Louth, Ruairi Ó Murchú, who gave us his thoughts on this. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.