The High Court has again quashed an Assessment of Need prepared for a seven-year-old child after finding that the HSE failed to carry out the required assessment of his education needs.
The child, identified as C, has additional needs. His father brought judicial review proceedings challenging an Assessment of Need dated 15 April 2024. The family had previously succeeded in having an earlier assessment quashed in proceedings known as CD1.
Ms Justice Bolger held that the Disability Act 2005 places responsibility on an HSE assessment officer to assess a person's health and education needs and identify the services required to meet them. An assessment officer may arrange for suitably experienced people to carry out assessments and, where education services may be needed, must seek assistance from a person nominated by the National Council for Special Education.
The judge stressed that those are different roles. A person nominated by the NCSE under section 8(3) assists the assessment. They do not automatically become the person carrying out the assessment under section 8(2).
In C's case, his school principal completed a Report of Education Needs after an NCSE nomination. The principal understood that he was providing assistance. He had not been appointed to conduct a section 8(2) assessment and had not received the training required for such an assessor.
The HSE assessment officer nevertheless treated the principal's report as the education assessment and largely reproduced its contents. The court found that this was wrong in fact and law. It meant there had been no proper determination of C's education needs arising from his disability or of the services required to meet those needs on the legally required resource-blind basis.
The court also identified shortcomings in Department of Education Circular 25/2024, particularly its assertion that schools are required to complete a Report of Education Needs.
The April 2024 assessment was quashed. The HSE was ordered to complete C's Assessment of Need lawfully, with final orders listed for 3 June 2025.