Ken O'Flynn: 22,000 Children Left Waiting - Cara Darmody Protests
Ken O'Flynn challenged the Taoiseach in the Dail over the growing number of children waiting for assessments, highlighting a 15-year-old protester at the gates and saying the law has been breached for two decades. He noted the figures rising from 15,000 to 22,000 and asked how lawmakers can be breaking the laws they write.
Ken O'Flynn put the spotlight on Cara Darmody, a 15 year old who began protesting outside the parliament, and pressed the Taoiseach on the statutory requirement that children's needs be assessed within six months. He called the ongoing delays a form of sabotage to children's education, future and rights and directly challenged ministers about accountability for the backlog.
The Taoiseach replied that the government has allocated an extra 300 million in the last budget and that the general scheme of the Disability Amendment Bill 2026 will be published shortly to reform the assessment of need process. He also outlined operational reforms: a single point of access, a dedicated autism diagnostic assessment panel, a new autism assessment intervention protocol, removal of the professional report requirement for some school placements, 11 in-reach clinical teams, and rollout of the education therapy service across 45 special schools with plans to expand. The exchange frames immediate human concern alongside proposed legislative and operational changes.
Exchange in the chamber
Ken O'Flynn put the spotlight on Cara Darmody, a 15 year old who began protesting outside the parliament, and pressed the Taoiseach on the statutory requirement that children's needs be assessed within six months. He called the ongoing delays a form of sabotage to children's education, future and rights and directly challenged ministers about accountability for the backlog.
Government response and reforms
The Taoiseach replied that the government has allocated an extra 300 million in the last budget and that the general scheme of the Disability Amendment Bill 2026 will be published shortly to reform the assessment of need process. He also outlined operational reforms: a single point of access, a dedicated autism diagnostic assessment panel, a new autism assessment intervention protocol, removal of the professional report requirement for some school placements, 11 in-reach clinical teams, and rollout of the education therapy service across 45 special schools with plans to expand. The exchange frames immediate human concern alongside proposed legislative and operational changes.
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Transcript
Thank you, Fiona and Taoiseach. I'm sure you'll join with me in welcoming Christy Hussie and Conor Burke to the public gallery. Taoiseach, since this morning a 15 year old child has started sitting out in protest outside the gates of this house, Cara Darmody, again highlighting the state of breaking its own law. The law that says children's needs must be assessed within six months. The law has been broken now for 20 years, Taoiseach, and we're still waiting, actually on your watch, we're gone from 15,000 to 22,000 on your watch. Taoiseach, what I put to you is how can people who write the laws in this country and inside in this house be breaking them outside the gates of this house? You as Taoiseach have accused the recent fuel protesters, the Irish men and Irish women, fighting for their livelihoods of committing national sabotage, but Taoiseach, surely it's sabotage to the 22,000 children waiting for assessment of needs. It's sabotage to their education, sabotage to their future, and sabotage to their rights. Taoiseach, I would ask you, how can the lawmakers in this house be the lawbreakers? Madam Deputy, the government is taking very, very strong action on disability generally. £600 million extra in the last budget, major increases in expenditure on education, and the general scheme of the Disability Amendment Bill 2026 will be published shortly, and that deals with the assessment of need process, because the proposed amendments will make it more child-centred, enabling proportionate assessments with more intensive clinical input only where required. Alongside of those legislative changes, a programme of operational non-legislative reforms has been implemented, such as a new single point of access, a dedicated autism diagnostic assessment panel, launch of a new autism assessment intervention protocol in May, removal of the requirement for professional report to access special classes and school placements, introduction of 11 new in-reach clinical teams to provide additional clinical guidance and support to assessment staff, and the rollout of the education therapy service across 45 special schools, with plans to roll out to all schools. So the focus now is on early identification of need and making sure that children get access to therapy services in the first instance.