Tipp schoolgirl Cara Darmody to mount 50-hour protest outside the Dáil for better autism services

Cara Darmody, who has two brothers with severe autism, plans to hold the protest outside the Dáil over two days from 10am on May 20

Cara Darmody plans to hold the protest outside the front gates of Leinster House over two days to again try and get the government to set a date by which the HSE will commit to have a child’s special needs assessed within six months. File photo: Sam Boal/Collins Photo

A Tipperary schoolgirl is to mount a 50-hour protest outside the Dáil as part of an ongoing campaign for better autism services.

Cara Darmody, who has two brothers with severe autism, plans to hold the protest over two days from 10am on May 20. The 14-year-old will sleep overnight in a tent outside the front gates of Leinster House in a specially cordoned off area.

Cara, from Ardfinnan, Co Tipperary, intends to revise for her summer exams while protesting.

She is protesting to again try and get the government to set a date by which the HSE will commit to abiding by the Disability Act 2005. This sets a legal obligation to have a child’s special needs assessed within six months but the HSE has repeatedly failed to fulfill this over the past 20 years.

Her Dáil protests last summer managed to get a promise from the then Taoiseach Simon Harris that he would try and get the HSE to abide by the law. Cara has written to both Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Mr Harris, who is now Tánaiste, calling for an immediate end to the “continuous breaking” of the law around the Assessment of Needs (AON).

“Permanent damage is being caused to children by the State's failure to assess children in a timely manner and it must end now,” she said. “I have called for this to happen for several years, but it just falls on deaf ears.

"The Taoiseach and Tánaiste keep saying they must do more about this issue, and they keep telling us what they need to do.” 

On studying outside Leinster House during her protest, she added: “I think I'll get way more study done than normal as I'll have very little else to do.” 

The 13-year-old has previously met Leo Varadkar, Mr Martin and Mr Harris when they were taoiseach to discuss changes to autism services. Cara has also spoken with TDs and senators about her campaign, which led to a Labour Party parliamentary motion on better autism resourcing in 2023.

Her protests at the Dáil echo those of Gretta Thunberg, the climate change activist who started her campaigns to raise awareness as a schoolgirl outside her own country’s parliamentary buildings.

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In June of last year, Cara protested outside Mr Harris's department once a week. The culmination of that protest was him allocating €10m towards what he named “Cara's Fund”, with a proportion of the money going towards Assessment of Needs (AONs) appointments for special needs children.

Cara became the youngest person in Ireland to pass Leaving Cert maths in August 2023. Some six years ahead of her time, she was just 12 when she took both ordinary level papers at her national school in Ardfinnan in June that year, later getting 97%.

It is the same mark she got when she sat the Junior Cert maths exam in 2022. She sat both exams to raise funds for autism services and awareness about the lack of timely resources for children with autism.

The Taoiseach, Department of Health, and the HSE have been asked for a comment.