Tipperary teen secures €20 million in funding towards disability fund

Tipperary teenager Cara Darmody has been informed by Tánaiste Simon Harris that 'Cara's Fund' will be doubled in the Budget for the coming year.

The teen from Ardfinnan has two brothers with autism who have inspired her advocacy. Cara has protested multiple times for the government to act on Ireland's assessments of needs crisis and 'Cara's Fund' was set up as a result of this.

In a letter address to Cara, Tánaiste Simon Harris confirmed that €20 million will be allocated to this fund over the next year. He also thanked the teen for her 'extraordinary advocacy and determination'.

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Commenting on the news Cara said that she was very happy to see more funding put into Cara's fund, and while it is welcomed, it will not stop the Government breaking the law when it comes to assessment of needs waiting lists in the country.

"I’m very happy to get official confirmation from the Government in writing that I’m being personally credited with €20million of Government funding, which they say is going to 'Cara’s Fund'," began Cara.

"I’m only 15 years old so to hear you’re responsible for that amount of funding feels really surreal. And I do want to say that I’m extremely grateful to all of the Government Ministers who’ve engaged positively with me, and I’m very grateful to Tánaiste Simon Harris who wrote directly to me about the €20million going to “Cara’s Fund”.

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"He made a number of commitments to me in recent months, so I’m very happy that he’s kept them all so far. I am worried that the €20million of funding won’t be enough though, as it will only cover 6,500 Assessments of Needs. The waiting list is way over 17,000 at the last checkpoint, with HSE projections that it could reach 25,000 by Christmas, so the funding may not be anywhere near enough for what’s needed.

"I do always say that the Government is breaking the Assessments of Needs law, and that it is so wrong that this is happening. This funding, while very welcome, will not stop the Government breaking the law in the short to medium term. I will continue to demand that they move Heaven and Earth to stop breaking the law as it is unacceptable for this law to continue being broken with impunity.

"I’m also really worried about the new recruitment campaign launched last month by the HSE to find psychologists and therapists nationally to do Assessments of Needs, and to also provide therapies. My Dad has written to HSE chief Bernard Gloster to express our concerns that many therapists we personally know, including people who work in the HSE, weren’t even aware of the recruitment campaign. The target market may not have been hit in the way it was intended.

"So while I’m incredibly grateful to Mr. Gloster for launching this recruitment campaign, we’ve asked him to examine the visibility of it. I’d also like to see the Government putting this campaign out there on the national TV & radio so that the message reaches every therapist in Ireland, which it clearly hasn’t done right now.

"I will continue to ask for this to be treated as a national crisis as children with disabilities are being permanently damaged by the inability of the Government to comply with the 6-month legal timeframe to perform an Assessment of Need," Cara concluded.