Cara Darmody is to appear before the new Oireachtas Disability Committee later this morning. The teenager from Ardfinnan made a presentation to Tipperary Councillors on Monday last calling for political unity to improve the level of funding and services for children with disabilities.
Ms Darmody accuses the Government of leaving children to rot on waiting lists as over 15,000 are on waiting lists for an Assessment of Need. Under the 2005 Disability Act such assessments should be provided within 6 months of being requested. Many children wait over several years for the assessment which is needed to identify and access therapies that may be beneficial to the child’s development. The wait in county Tipperary is approximately 4 years.
In the past the Government has allocated additional funding of €10m to enable parents to be able to access Assessments of Need privately. Ms Darmody is adamant that she does not want the Government to increase the length of time allowed to provide the Assessment of Need to cosmetically improve the situation. The HSE forecasts that the waiting list could be 25,000 by the end of the year.
