Tipperary teen to star in French documentary

The documentary will highlight Cara Darmody's campaign efforts for the government to provide better disability services

A French documentary crew will follow Tipperary activist Cara Darmody around as she campaigns for disability rights this month.

Cara previously made a campaign promise at her 'Monster Meeting' outside the Dáil on the 26th September to take her message to Europe and while she's still working on getting in front of the European press in Brussels, she managed to convince a French TV station to do a documentary about her story.

The documentary will be commissioned for ARTE TV, a channel that airs in France and Belgium.

The documentary will capture Cara and her family at home in Ardfinnan, then take footage of her brother's activities (walking, swimming, etc) and get some footage of her interviewing Dáil candidate Michael Murphy. They'll then follow her on the train to Dublin and her journey to the Dáil as she shows them how she did her protests and campaign, and it'll all culminate with the Taoiseach's dramatic letter crediting her with €10 million of funding.

The crew will also be later interviewing Adam Harris about autism advocacy in general (CEO of autism charity AsIAm), and they're also due to separately shoot some footage of special needs children competing at a special olympics event in Maynooth.

Speaking with Cara before filming began she said "I'm thrilled to be able to fulfil a campaign promise to take my message to Europe. I've always said that the way that children with special needs are treated in Ireland is a national disgrace. But I really upped my rhetoric last September at my Monster Meeting rally when I said that it was actually an international embarrassment now.

"The Government have had it good for a long time by being able to keep the story of this crisis within Ireland. That ends now. And when I'm finished in Europe, I'll be off to America. I know they don't believe me, but watch this space!"