DISABILITY RIGHTS ADVOCATES Cara and Mark Darmody are meeting with the Taoiseach Micheál Martin this morning.

14-year-old Cara and dad Mark are staging a 50-hour protest outside Dáil Éireann in Dublin as part of their ongoing campaign seeking that the government take action to reduce wait times for assessments of needs.

Currently, 15,000 children are on a waiting list for the formal procedure, set out under the Disability Act 2005, that identifies a child’s health and educational needs. By law, children must be seen to within six months.

Just 7% of assessments are completed within the legal six-month timeframe. Darmody said the laws are being “systematically broken” for almost a decade.

Yesterday, vocal campaigners Cara and Mark began their 50-hour protest aiming to highlight that the Government is currently breaking the law when it comes to delivering assessments of needs.

The pair want the coalition to declare the situation an emergency, as the HSE now projects that waiting list figures could grow to 25,000 by the end of this year if funding and systematic interventions are not made.

Speaking after their first night outside, Mark told The Journal that Cara was simply going to tell Micheál Martin what was needed during their meeting at Government buildings this morning.

Asked what they expect to hear, Mark said: “It will be more of what we saw in the Dáil yesterday – hogwash. We’ve heard it all before.”

He added: “I, personally, like him – but we don’t agree on this issue.”

“This morning we asked Minister Hildegarde Naughton – yes or no, will she would declare this a national emergency, and she said ‘We can call this many different things’.”

Cara was motivated to begin her now-four-year campaign over the experiences of her brothers, Neil (12) and John (8), who have autism and intellectual disabilities. 

This issue has been bubbling to the top of the political agenda for some time now, with disability issues coming to the fore in last year’s general election, but it was Cara’s protest has really made the Government sit up and listen.

Responsibility for this falls under the remit of Minister for Children and Disability Norma Foley, who outlined at a press conference yesterday that the Government wants to “streamline” and “abridge” the assessment process. 

The minister also said that there will be a recruitment drive for psychologists, without setting concrete timelines or commitments.

Speaking this morning, Mark Darmody said the commitments the government has given are things Cara and him have heard before. Asked if he finds the government’s response frustrating, Mark said no.

He added that they would continue to advocate until their requests are met.

Speaking to Virgin Media’s Tonight Show yesterday evening, Cara Darmody said the promises made by then-Taoiseach Simon Harris following the budget last year were not kept.

As a result of Cara’s campaigning last year, an additional €10m of funding was allocated in the Budget. This funding was described as “Cara’s fund” by then-Taoiseach Simon Harris. 

“I’m only a 14-year-old girl who is only just learning things in the real world. I’m very, very young. But I think who ever makes a promise – of any age, any gender – someone should stick to their promises or else your credibility is going to be gone.

🗣️ "Were those promises kept?" — Kieran Cuddihy
🗣️ "No, those promises were not kept." — Cara Darmody, Disability Campaigner, live from Leinster House#TonightVMTV pic.twitter.com/IaLIxA2XMq

— TonightVMTV (@TonightVMTV) May 20, 2025

“Trust is a big thing. And despite me meeting Simon Harris nearly eight to nine months ago now I still think he should keep his promise and work with me on this issue.”

She told the programme that she plans to tell Micheál Martin this morning that clear promises to fix this issue, with a timeline, need to be made and that he “needs to stop breaking the law”.