LATEST: Tipperary teen's 50-hour protest to go ahead despite major 'risk to life' storm

A Tipperary teenager who will protest outside the Dail for 50 hours during a storm tomorrow, has said her pain and suffering tomorrow will be a symbol of the families she's protesting for.

Cara Darmody (15) will protest from 10am on Tuesday, December 9 until 12pm on Thursday, December 11.

"I’ll be taking on a 50-hour sit-out outside Dáil Éireann to demand real action for children with disabilities and their families, and to raise vital funds for Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland (AADI)," Cara explained.

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Those who would like to support Cara's fundraiser can donate here.

In a statement released today, the teenager wanted to let people know why she was still going ahead with her protest, despite such harsh weather conditions predicted due to Storm Bram.

"Let me cut straight to the chase – I’m here to once again call out the blatant Assessments of Needs (AON) law-breaking by the Government. By not assessing autistic children within the legal limit of 6 months, they are smashing the AON law in 93% of cases, with the figures gone from 15,000 to over 18,000 since my protest last May. It takes several years to assess most kids, which is a national disgrace.

"At just 15 years of age, I’m actually Ireland’s youngest corporate motivational speaker and I’m now back here to use those skills to motivate the Government to wake up and finally find the therapists we need to solve this issue.

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"The Government has granted most of my asks, and I’m very grateful for that. I’ve received commitments that the right to an assessment will remain in law, that the 6-month time limit to assess will remain, and that any new AON law will be placed before the Dáil by January, which is still on target. I also requested funding to what they call “Cara’s Fund” to deal with AON backlogs, and I was delighted that “Cara’s Fund” received €20million in October’s budget.

"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. Private providers that I spoke to, which was the target market, weren’t aware of it. Shockingly, many HSE therapists that we spoke to also weren’t aware of the campaign, so even their own people didn’t know it was happening. And finally, very few politicians heard of it, including some of the Opposition party leaders that I spoke to. So the visibility of the campaign was a disaster.

"In contrast, Ministers McEntee, Naughton and Higgins were rightly doing the rounds on national media & social media recently promoting the Education Therapy Service. But why wasn’t that done for the other national recruitment campaign?

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, including 2 sleeps. It’s just so wrong that they cannot recruit properly. And if it can’t be done nationally, then go international. Last June I held a 3-hour meeting with the Commercial Director of a British company, with access to 2300 therapists & psychologists. They’d come to Ireland in a heartbeat, as I’m sure many other companies would as well.

"I’m not here to push any company’s commercial interests. I’m merely making the point that if a 15-year old can bring a company to the table, then why can’t the Government with their huge resources.

"With Storm Bram now blowing, I will really suffer out here over the next 50 hours. But I see it as a symbol of the pain & suffering that families go through when services, assessments & therapies aren’t given to their children in a timely manner.

"So my big ask of the Government is very simple. Enough talking & making excuses - activate an emergency plan immediately, nationally & internationally, to find therapists," concluded Cara.