A teenage disability activist has begun her third 50-hour protest outside Leinster House over the delays families face in accessing assessments of need for children.
Cara Darmody, 15, was greeted by politicians as she began her demonstration outside Leinster House on Tuesday, reports Breaking News.
Cara said her latest protest was sparked by the growing number of children waiting for an assessment of need.
She said the first time she held a sleepout protest, last May, there were 15,000 children waiting, while the number has now risen to 21,792, reports Breaking News.
“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,” reports Breaking News.
An assessment of need 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 assessment to be completed within six months, reports Breaking News.
Cara said most people have to wait two and a quarter years on average, and if the wait for services is also included, the total wait stretches to five years.
“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,” reports Breaking News.
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 and profound intellectual disabilities.
She said it is “definitely frustrating” that the waiting list keeps growing, reports Breaking News.
“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,” reports Breaking News.
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 work with securing millions of euro in funding to tackle the backlog.
Cara said she wants to meet Harris to discuss whether further funding could be allocated to help reduce the backlog, reports Breaking News.
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, reports Breaking News.
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.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.
