Taoiseach Micheál Martin has suggested that legislation around assessments of needs must be changed in order that therapists can provide services to children more quickly.
Mr Martin said the status quo is not tenable and there is only a finite number of therapists.
The assessments carried out by expert therapists can take up to 90 hours currently and there is a legal requirement that they are provided to children within six months.
Mr Martin was speaking as 14-year-old disability rights campaigner Cara Darmody watched on from the public gallery.
Cara, who is undertaking a 50-hour protest at the Dáil, is calling for urgent action on growing waiting lists for child disability assessments.
The 14-year-old said the Government is "breaking the law" by failing to ensure timely assessments for children, and is demanding meaningful steps be taken to address what she describes as a "national crisis".
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Under the Disability Act 2005, children are legally entitled to an assessment of need within six months of applying. However, recent figures show that thousands of families are still waiting far beyond that deadline prompting ongoing criticism from advocacy groups.
Currently there are more than 15,000 children waiting for an assessment of need, which is often a key requirement for children accessing certain services and supports.
Under law, children should be provided with these assessments within six months but this only happened in 7% of cases last year.
Opposition leaders outside Dáil pledging support to Cara Darmody @rtenews pic.twitter.com/4N55E2J2ZY
— Sandra Hurley (@sandra_hurley) May 20, 2025
Speaking earlier outside Leinster House, Cara said she planned to spend some of the protest studying for her upcoming summer exams and brought sweets and chocolate to help get her through the long hours ahead.
This is the latest in a series of high-profile actions by the Tipperary teenager, who has consistently campaigned for improved services for children with additional needs, inspired by her own family's experience.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald described Cara as exceptional saying that her campaign has a simple demand - that the Government complies with the law.
Ms McDonald detailed cases where parents are having to wait up to three years for assessments for their children saying the waiting times would make your eyes water.
The Dáil is currently debating a combined Opposition party motion on the issue during Sinn Féin Private Members' time.
Deputy McDonald warned that there "will be serious and enduring consequences" if the Government dilutes the statutory requirement that an assessment of need be provided within six months.
Families - especially those on low incomes - are being forced into an impossible position, thus reinforcing inequality, she said.
Deputy McDonald said one parent described her experience of dealing with the HSE as "hell".
One mother described how her son has been waiting two years to access services, she added.
The Government must provide the services these families so desperately need in a timely manner.
She commended Cara Darmody and read remarks the teenage activist had written.
"You've some stamina," Deputy McDonald said.
It will not be opposed by the Government with Minister for Children and Disability Norma Foley saying the assessment of needs system is broken but that she is committing to fixing it.
Ms Foley said she would streamline the process to make it more efficient.
She said a requirement for an assessment of needs to receive the Domiciliary Care Allowance has been removed.
And she said there was no need for an assessment of needs to access social housing.
She also pledged that there would not be 25,000 children waiting for assessments by the end of the year, as predicted by the HSE.
Minister for State with responsibility for Disability, Hildegarde Naughton, said that addressing the issue of the number of children on a waiting list for an assessment of need is an "absolute priority" for her.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One programme, Ms Naughton said that she wants to see additional therapists going through third-level institutions and recruitment drives to attract more therapists.
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"We have allocated an extra €10m for private assessments to try and get through those assessment of need waiting lists, and we have seen in the first three months of this year, an extra 1,400 assessments carried out, so that's an increase of 65% - but it's not enough," she said.
"This is not just about looking at the waiting list, we need to be increasing the number of therapists right across the board," she said.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik said a constructive plan is needed to address waiting lists for assessments of need and chronic delays.
She said there had not been the step change required to address the problem.
"No child should have to spend years campaigning and protesting for basic services," Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O'Callaghan said.
He said that Cara Darmody started campaigning when she was 10 years old and asked if her actions are needed "to shame this Government into action?".
Problem of the Government's making, says Inclusion Ireland CEO
Lorraine Dempsey, former board member and CEO of Inclusion Ireland, said this has been an issue for politicans since 2010, when there was 1,000 children waiting for assessment and that this is a problem of the Government's making.
"They've stood over the HSE and HSE-rfunded services being cannibalised by not addressing a pay parity issue between staff in Section 38 and 39 Services, and at the same time not increasing the number of training places for therapists," Ms Dempsey said on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne.
"The ongoing dilemma is that there is a legal assessment that children have a right to but a limited pool of therapists that are trying to deliver interventions.
"In reality - we don't have the people," she added.
She urged the Government to urgently address the issue.
"They can still fix it, and could begin by increasing the number of third-level places for therapists, go into schools now with career guidance and encourage more and more people into healthcare," she added.
Analysis: Assessment of needs important step in children's lives
