COMMENT: Cara Darmody takes us behind the scenes of her historic 50-hour Dáil protest

"With two hours of the protest done, my Dad got a phone-call from the Taoiseach’s Department who requested me to meet the Taoiseach in his office at 9am the next morning.

"I said yes, because I didn’t think we could hold the meeting in my tiny tent," writes Cara Darmody.

Hi everyone!! Well that was the craziest week of my life!!

For once, the journalist (me!!) became the entire story of Leinster House last week!!

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My 50-hour protest became the national news for the whole week, so I’ll try to bring you the story in this week’s column, with hopefully a bit of humour thrown in as it is a really, really serious issue as so many autistic children are suffering permanent damage at the hands of the State.

So, let’s go to the action!!

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A BOMB WAS ABOUT TO LAND!!

I knew something big was about to happen on the Saturday before the protest when my parents pulled me from an RTE radio programme, to keep me as fresh as a daisy for the big launch.

But RTE did the programme on me anyway even though I wasn’t there.

That started a tsunami of stories about me and the issues that I was bringing up.

I remember my great friend Colin Farrell telling me that when the press start writing about you without your input, that it’s big!! So I knew then that this would blow up in the Government’s face!!

CARA’S ‘COALITION OF THE OPPOSITION’ HAS A DRAMATIC IMPACT!!

Three weeks before the protest, I spent two days in Leinster House for many, many meetings with Opposition parties and their leaders, all in an effort to put together Cara’s ‘Coalition of the willing!!’

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And then, one week before my protest, word came through that the combined Opposition would back me up 100% so that was a massive moment for my campaign!!

So then, on Tuesday the 20th May, I started my day on Ireland AM before heading straight to Leinster House to start my protest at 10am!!

Every media outlet was covering it so I knew it was going to be big – but I just didn’t realise how big it was going to become!!

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The Opposition party leaders met me outside Leinster House for a ‘meet & greet’ at 11.30am. It was unreal – there were about 120 press there in a massive media huddle with microphones & TV cameras, all hustling for the shot & quote!!

Only for my previous experience, I’d have been overwhelmed, but I’m so used to the media now, that it was water off a duck’s back!!

A GRENADE GOES OFF!!

This was dramatic!! As my protest was kicking off, the HSE revealed that there are now 15,000 autistic children rotting on their Assessment waiting lists, up from 14,000 a month ago, wow!!

But wait until you hear this, they answered a question that they were never asked!! – they revealed that their projections are that the waiting list will reach 25,000 by Christmas!!

What the hell!!! When that information landed, the story became even bigger, as it became clear and obvious that the HSE has lost control of this issue, and their letter was ‘a cry for help’ to the Government.

The media then focused it’s anger solely on the Government!!

THE DÁIL SHUTS DOWN FOR MY ISSUES!!

Leader’s Questions started at 2pm that Tuesday and there was nothing else spoken about only ‘Cara, Cara, Cara.’ And then there was a total of five-and-a-half hours of Dáil time allocated to debate my issues.

To say the Government was put under pressure was a massive understatement.

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Most TDs spoke, all praising my courage and determination, that nobody is happy with the way that things are in Ireland in relation to Children Disability Services. But the Cabinet of Ministers just weren’t acting like the house is on fire with this issue.

THE GOVERNMENT IS BREAKING THE LAW!!

The law says that you have six months to assess an autistic child, full-stop, no ifs or buts.

But the Government smashes this law every single day of the week, and twice on a Sunday!! In fact, they break the law in 93% of cases. It is a disgrace and it’s a national emergency.

And that’s my big ‘ask’ – I want this whole fiasco declared a national emergency, which would then activate all the agencies of the State to act in an emergency manner, instead of the ‘asleep at the wheel’ attitude that is presently there. I got support for that from the vast majority of TDs & Senators – it’s only those at the top that are dragging their heels!!

‘THE TETCHY TAOISEACH’ FACES OFF WITH YOURS TRULY!!

With two hours of the protest done, my Dad got a phone-call from the Taoiseach’s Department who requested me to meet the Taoiseach in his office at 9am the next morning.

I said yes, because I didn’t think we could hold the meeting in my tiny tent!!

So that meeting took one hour, and look, he’s a really nice man, and I have nothing to say negatively about him personally, but he just won’t declare this as a national emergency!!

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I mean, how many children need to be on that list before he does – 30,000, 40,000, 50,000???

So the meeting was exactly what I expected it to be – the Taoiseach explaining all of his plans to us, but not one of them was emergency action. So I was disappointed.

THE CROWDS FLOCK TO BE BAPTISED!!

Ok, it wasn’t really a John the Baptist moment!!

But I was surrounded by people, reporters and politicians for the entire three days as EVERYONE accepted that my arguments were right.

A few of the Ministers who came out were still clinging to the idea that I’m right, but that declaring it a national emergency isn’t appropriate.

I’d genuinely advise them to go online and see the reaction to what I’m saying, and then come back to me!! I was so thrilled to meet so many lovely people from all over Ireland and to get huge support from the entire Country!! It was truly humbling!!

CARA IS CROWNED THE KING!!

I’m only joking, I wasn’t really!! But it did feel like that for a minute as once my 50-hour protest was over, I was taken into Leinster House where I met the Ceann Comhairle and was escorted to the Dáil gallery where I received a standing ovation from every single politician present.

The entirely of Leinster House seemed to be in awe of what I had done, with the Garda Superintendent and Leinster House staff and manager escorting me at all times.

Now I know what a VIP feels like!!

But I was also exhausted so the time had come to go home. But one thing is certain, the political dial has shifted and I just know that this a battle that I’m going to win!!

GET YOUR TICKETS FOR THE BIGGEST SHOW IN TOWN!!

So the huge breaking news is that I’ve been invited to be the very first witness to give evidence to the Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters, on June the 11th.

I can tell you right here and right now that my evidence will be dramatic!! The Government are breaking the law and they need to be dramatically called out on it.

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They are running out of road on this issue, and I can definitely say now that I won’t be letting them off the hook!! So get your tickets and your popcorn ready for June the 11th, as it’s going to be the greatest show in town!!!

‘DYNAMIC’ DARREN PROVES TO BE A GENIUS!!

Every TV, radio and newspaper covered my story all week, and most of the media correspondents all told me that I was born to be in the media, that I’d be a brilliant journalist, blah blah blah!!

But who was the first person to give me a break to write a column in January 2023 called ‘Tales from Leinster House’??

Wait for it…. Drumroll…… none other than the Editor of this amazing publication ‘Dynamic’ Darren Hassett!!

They were all telling him he was stone mad in 2023, but now after this week, he’s officially being called a genius!! Welcome to life!!

Seriously though, I’d like to thank Darren and his incredible staff for all that they do, for bringing us stories without fear or favour, malice or ill-will.

And even if I get the sack today, I’ll always be eternally grateful for the incredible opportunities & experience that I’ve received from the man now officially known as ‘Dynamic Darren’!!

See you all next week for ‘normal’ chaotic political gossip!!

Cara. xxxx