Teenage activist begins third sleepout at Dáil over special needs assessments

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, Press Association

A teenage disability activist has begun her third 50-hour protest outside Leinster House over the delay families face in accessing assessments of need (AONs) for children.

Cara Darmody, 15, was greeted by politicians, including Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, as she began her demonstration outside Leinster House on Tuesday.

Cara said her latest protest was sparked by the growing list of children waiting for an AON.

She said the first time she held a sleepout protest, last May, there were 15,000 children waiting for an AON while now the number of children waiting is at 21,792.

“The government are systematically breaking the assessment of needs law by not assessing children within six months of their application for that assessment, and that is a serious problem,” she told the Press Association.

“I want them to set up an international recruitment campaign to get the psychologists needed to get the services and to eradicate those 22,000 kids waiting on that waiting list because it’s a national disgrace and the waiting list increasing has to end.”

I'm only 15 years old and I can see my parents' struggles at home with my own two brothersCara Darmody

An AON is carried out to identify if a child or young person has a disability and is designed to identify their health needs and service requirements.

Once the HSE receives an application, there is a legal requirement for the AON to be completed within six months.

Cara said most people have to wait two and a quarter years on average, and if the wait for services is also included, it is a five-year wait in total for services.

“This has to end because the waiting lists are only going one way – they’re increasing dramatically.

“The government have no urgency to reduce those waiting lists and I’m sitting out here to raise more awareness about this issue.”

Cara, from Ardfinnan, Co Tipperary, was initially motivated to pursue her advocacy because her two brothers, Neil, 12, and John, eight, have autism and severe/profound intellectual disabilities.

She said it is “definitely frustrating” for her that the waiting list keeps getting longer.

“I’m only 15 years old and I can see my parents’ struggles at home with my own two brothers, and it’s frustrating to see my parents struggle all the time and knowing that there’s thousands of families, just like my family, that struggle so much, that can especially be really, really frustrating.

“But I try my best to raise awareness on this issue. The fact that I’ve got €30 million of government funding, and that’s helped 10,000 children, that definitely does make it a lot easier on me, and it does make me feel proud that I have been able to help that many people.”

Finance Minister Simon Harris, who campaigned for disability rights as a teenager, has met Cara several times and wrote to her in October to credit her for millions of euro in funding allocated to tackle the AONs backlog.

Cara said she wants to meet Harris to talk about whether further funding could be allocated to help reduce the backlog.

She staged two 50-hour protests outside Leinster House last year – one during Storm Bram in December – and is repeating the demonstration on Tuesday.

She said she prepares for the protest by camping at home and making sure she has the right drinks, food and equipment.

Cara said she gets a lot of people coming up to tell her “my cause is right” and that she should keep campaigning which helps to motivate her.