I raise the issue of assessment of needs given that 500 people are currently waiting in the mid-west region, 68 of whom are in County Clare. I was contacted by a single parent who was told that her son, Finn, will be waiting at least three years for his assessment of needs. Having been in contact with a private practitioner, she has had to get a loan of €1,600 just for an autism assessment. If any further assessments need to be done after that, she will have to pay an additional €1,600. The response to a parliamentary question indicated that once-off funding was made available. I note the word "was" was used - as in the past tense. Is that funding now gone? How many were able to secure an assessment of needs with that funding? There are still two vacancies on the children's disability network team, CDNT, that have not been filled. Is there is any progress there?

I thank the Deputy for raising the question. There is a whole-of-government approach to addressing the assessment of needs, under the stewardship of the Taoiseach. We have already met on the issue and option papers are being developed at this time. Regarding the use of the word "was", funding was secured in 2020 to clear the backlog of assessment of needs at that point; it was cleared completely. In each budget since then, we have secured funding to address the growing waiting list for assessment of needs. We are now looking at measures as to how we can provide reimbursements.