Yesterday’s Government announcement on so-called “targeted reforms” to the Assessment of Need (AON) process was presented as progress. It was not. It was an exercise in political optics – one that offered families hope in headlines, but no real answers, no timelines, and no accountability. The truth remains unchanged: children with disabilities in Ireland are still being failed by the system that claims to protect them.
While Ministers Norma Foley and Emer Higgins repeatedly used phrases like “faster”, “more efficient”, and “timelier”, they did not provide the only thing that matters to families who have already waited years—certainty. Certainty about when their child will actually be assessed. Certainty about who will carry out those assessments. Certainty that the assessment will lead to real, tangible supports. And certainty that Ireland has finally decided to stop sacrificing children to bureaucracy, understaffing and political hesitation.
What we got instead was a policy outline with gaping holes. And for families already stretched to breaking point, it is simply not good enough.
1. A System Announced, But Not Built: No Timeline, No Workforce, No Delivery
The Government now acknowledges a backlog of over 18,000 children waiting – a figure expected to exceed 22,000 by year’s end. This alone should have demanded an emergency plan. Instead, families heard that legislation will be required, that guidance will be drafted, and that details will follow “in due course”.
This is not urgency.
This is not reform.
This is delay disguised as progress.
The announcement promises 11 new “In-reach” teams, totalling just 44 staff. But Ireland does not have anything close to the clinical workforce required to complete thousands of additional assessments each year. There is no workforce plan, no recruitment strategy, and no clarity on whether these teams can even be staffed.
Families were told assessments would become “faster”, yet no target completion dates were offered. Not a single deadline. Not a single timeline. Not a single measurable commitment.
For a Government that has allowed waiting lists to triple, this is deeply worrying—and deeply insulting to the families who have already endured years of neglect.
2. A Promise of ‘Efficiency’ That Risks Becoming a Downgrade
The Government says the AON process will now focus on “identifying needs” rather than producing detailed clinical reports. But this raises a critical question:
Will children now receive less thorough assessments simply to clear statistical backlogs?
Schools, CAMHS, Primary Care, CDNTs and disability services already require detailed professional reports—not short-form summaries—to allocate supports, therapies, or places. The Government has not explained how these new assessments will meet those real-world requirements.
There is a real danger that Ireland is moving toward lighter, faster paperwork, rather than meaningful clinical evaluations. Families could be given assessments that satisfy the system, but not the child’s actual needs.
This is not efficiency.
It is a downgrading of children’s rights.
And it is happening in a country that claims to value inclusion.
3. Today’s Ireland: A State That Still Leaves Its Most Vulnerable Children Behind
Perhaps the most revealing line in the Government’s own documents is this:
“Many of the children waiting on AON reports are already receiving supports.”
Families know this is simply not true. The vast majority of children waiting for AON are not receiving therapies. They are not receiving intervention. They are not receiving pathways. They are receiving nothing but delay.
Ireland remains a country where 3- and 4-year-olds wait longer for services than they have been alive. A country where parents must battle systems instead of supporting their children. A country where political announcements routinely substitute for actual delivery.
This is not administrative failure.
This is not a resourcing issue.
This is today’s Ireland, and it is a shame on all of us.
At Don’t Leave Them Behind, we say this clearly:
A system that cannot assess children on time cannot claim to care for them.
A system without timelines has no intention of accountability.
A system without capacity has no right to call itself inclusive.
Families deserve more than sympathy in speeches. They deserve a functioning system. They deserve timelines, staffing plans, enforceable commitments, and a Government that acts with urgency—not political convenience.
Until that happens, we will continue to raise our voice, challenge the gaps, expose the delays, and demand better.
Because no child in Ireland should ever be left behind.