Disability (Assessment of Needs, Service Statements and Redress) Regulations, 2007

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR SI 263/2007
• Year: 2007

S.I. No. 263 of 2007 .

DISABILITY (ASSESSMENT OF NEEDS, SERVICE STATEMENTS AND REDRESS) REGULATIONS 2007

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 12th June, 2007.

I, MARY HARNEY, Minister for Health and Children, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 21 of the Disability Act 2005 do hereby make the following regulations:

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Disability (Assessment of Needs, Service Statements and Redress) Regulations 2007.

2. These Regulations shall come into operation on the 1 st day of June 2007.

Interpretation

3. (1) In these Regulations–

“Act of 2005” means the Disability Act 2005 ;

“Act of 2004” means the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 ;

“appeals board” means the Special Education Appeals Board established under section 36 of the Act of 2004;

“appeals officer” shall be construed in accordance with section 16 of the Act of 2005;

“applicant” means the person who is the subject of an application;

“application” means an application for an assessment in accordance with section 9 of the Act of 2005;

“assessment” means an assessment undertaken or arranged by the Executive to determine, in respect of a person with a disability, the health and educational needs (if any) occasioned by the disability and the health services or education services (if any) required to meet those needs;

“assessment officers” shall be construed in accordance with section 8 of the Act of 2005;

“assessment report” shall be construed in accordance with section 8 of the Act of 2005;

“child” means a person under the age of 18 years;

“complaint” shall be construed in accordance with section 14 of the Act of 2005;

“complaints officer” shall be construed in accordance with section 15 of the Act of 2005;

“Council” means the National Council for Special Education;

“disability”, in relation to a person, means a substantial restriction in the capacity of the person to carry on a profession, business or occupation in the State or to participate in social or cultural life in the State by reason of an enduring physical, sensory, mental health or intellectual impairment;

“education service provider” shall be construed in accordance with section 7 of the Act of 2005;

“Executive” means the Health Service Executive;

“liaison officer” shall be construed in accordance with section 11 of the Act of 2005;

“service statement” means a statement prepared by the liaison officer in accordance with section 11(2) of the Act of 2005;

“service” means a service or facility of any kind provided by a public body which is available to or accessible by the public generally or a section of the public and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, includes

(a) the use of any place or amenity owned, managed or controlled by a public body,

(b) the provision of information or an information resource or a scheme or an allowance or other benefit administered by a public body,

(c) any cultural or heritage services provided by such a body, and

(d) any service provided by a court or other tribunal.

(2) In the definition of disability “substantial restriction” shall be construed as meaning a restriction which

(a) is permanent or likely to be permanent, results in a significant difficulty in communication, learning or mobility or in significantly disordered cognitive processes, and

(b) gives rise to the need for services to be provided continually to the person whether or not a child or, if the person is a child, to the need for services to be provided early in life to ameliorate the disability.

(3) A word or expression that is used in these regulations and is also used in the Act of 2005 has, unless the contrary intention appears, the same meaning in these regulations as it has in the Act of 2005.

Application for an Assessment

4. Where a person in accordance with the provisions of section 9(1)(a) or (b) of the Act of 2005 wishes to make an application to the Executive for an assessment of their needs they shall make such an application in writing using the form published for that purpose by the Executive.

5. The Executive shall process applications for assessment in order of the date on which they are received by the Executive. Where two or more applications are...