Teenage activist from Tipperary seeks urgent meeting with EU Parliament President

Youth advocate and campaigner Cara Darmody has today issued an urgent public appeal to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, requesting a face-to-face meeting to expose the systemic failure of disability assessments for children in Ireland.

The formal request is being facilitated and advanced directly through Sinn Féin MEP Kathleen Funchion, who has actively championed Cara’s campaign within the European Parliament, taking Cara to address an EU Conference as recently as 30 June last.

Kathleen’s intervention comes as Cara intensifies her political pressure over the state’s ongoing failure to provide statutory developmental assessments to thousands of children, having just completed another 50-hour campaign at Leinster House on 16 July.

The request comes at a critical time as Ireland holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

She argues that the state’s failure to provide timely statutory Assessments of Need violates fundamental human rights and equality standards protected under European Union values.

“Children with special needs in Ireland are being abandoned by the State system,” began Cara.

“Waiting years for an Assessment of Need destroys a child’s early intervention window. As Europe looks to Ireland during our EU Presidency, EU leaders must know the human cost of these administrative failures happening on our soil.

“We also can’t leave children on waiting lists for years & years, so now I believe is the perfect time for the Government to consider a properly funded international recruitment campaign, and for a European solution to be considered for this national crisis that now has 22,000 children waiting to be assessed.”

Cara is calling on President Metsola to acknowledge the request and grant a delegation hearing to discuss how European policy pressure can compel national governments to clear backlogs and enforce statutory timelines.