(Ireland) 18,000 on waitlist for special needs assessment; will rise to 25,000 before 2026

Dec 8, 2025, Irish Independent: ‘With Storm Bram blowing, I will suffer out here’ – teen activist staging sleep-out protest at Dáil over assessment of needs crisis  

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/with-storm-bram-blowing-i-will-suffer-out-here-teen-activist-staging-sleep-out-protest-at-dail-over-assessment-of-needs-crisis/a64628841.html# 

Activist Cara Darmody is preparing for a 50-hour sleep-out protest, in hope of highlighting the national assessment of needs crisis.

There are 18,000 children in Ireland awaiting an assessment of need (AoN), with that figure expected to rise to around 25,000 before the end of the year.

Cara (15), from Ardfinnan, Co Tipperary, will camp outside Leinster House for two nights, starting at 11am tomorrow, and will meet with opposition party leaders during the day.

Cara said the purpose of her protest is to “call out the blatant assessment of needs law-breaking by the Government”.

“By not assessing autistic children within the legal limit of six months, they are smashing the AoN law in 93pc of cases, with the figures gone from 15,000 to over 18,000 since my protest last May,” she said.

So far, Cara has been successful in her appeals to the Government, including securing €20million in the budget for “Cara’s Fund”, which will assist in combating the AoN backlog.

Something Cara hopes to highlight through the sleep-out is the national recruitment campaign, which she negotiated with the HSE during the summer, but she said it failed to have any real impact due to the lack of visibility.

I feel like the Government has given me a car, but has forgotten to give me the keys to drive it

“Here's the problem. I also convinced them to launch a new national recruitment campaign, but the visibility of it was almost like the Third Secret of Fatima,” she said.

“I feel like the Government has given me a car, but has forgotten to give me the keys to drive it, so the car is useless. The keys to the disability world are therapists – without them, the car doesn’t drive, it’s as simple as that.

“So, I’m now back to protest on this dirty street again and will be here for 50 hours.” . . .

Met Éireann Weather Warnings Explained

She will meet opposition party leaders at 3.45pm outside the front gates of Leinster House, which will be followed by a joint opposition party event.

This event will conclude with a motion in the Dáil, to be proposed by the supporting opposition parties, including Sinn Féin, Labour, Social Democrats, People Before Profit-Solidarity, Independent Ireland and Aontú. . . .