Assessment of need backlog for children 'a national scandal'

Gareth Noble, left, seen here in a file photo from 2019, told the committee that '91% of children do not receive their assessments within the timeframe prescribed and mandated by law'. Picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

A lawyer who has represented families trying to secure services for their children amid chronic HSE backlogs has told an Oireachtas committee that delays in assessment of need (AON) is a "national scandal".

Gareth Noble of KOD Lyons was speaking before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children, Disability, Equality and Integration, and said efforts by the HSE to change the current AON system threatened to make a bad situation worse.