Teenage disability campaigner describes shortage of therapists as ‘myth'
Cara Darmody (14) made the comment as she briefed several TDs and Senators on her campaign at Leinster House on Tuesday.
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An AON is carried out to identify if a child, children or young person has a disability, and is designed to identify their health needs as well as service requirements.
Once the HSE receives an application, there is a legal requirement for the AON to be completed within six months.
Disability campaigner Cara Darmody (14) met Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and other opposition leaders outside the Dáil in May. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA
Cara, from Ardfinnan in Co Tipperary, said she wanted to call out the 'blatant lawbreaking' of the State by failing to complete assessments on time.
The waiting list for assessments of need is projected to soar to almost 25,000 by the end of the year, and the campaigner said just 7 per cent are being completed on time.
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Cara described the figures as 'frightening', adding that there were real children 'suffering horrifically at the hands of the State'.
She also said she wanted to call out the 'myth' that there is a shortage of psychologists or therapists to carry out the assessments.
Cara said the crisis over assessments of need has escalated to 'a national disgrace and an international embarrassment'.
She was initially motivated to pursue her advocacy because her two brothers, Neil (12) and John (8) have autism and severe/profound intellectual disabilities.
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Cara said they were 'both failed dramatically by the State' in relation to the assessments and services that they received.
Cara staged a 50-hour protest against the backlog in the assessment of needs (AON) system outside Leinster House. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA
However, she stressed that her advocacy is focused on the the national picture rather than solely on the experiences of her brothers.
During the briefing, Cara said she had met with a Co Tipperary-based psychologist who claimed that 'HSE red tape' is preventing her from doing more AONs because an instruction from her local manager has meant she is tied up in supervising all aspects of the work of her junior psychologist colleagues.
Cara said she recently told HSE chief Bernard Gloster about the experience of this psychologist, adding that he was 'seriously taken aback' by what he heard.
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She said she asked Mr Gloster to launch a brand new, heavily advertised recruitment campaign for therapists and psychologists.
Cara also told politicians that she had held a meeting with the commercial director of a British company that has access to 2,300 therapists that are available to conduct AONs.
She did not name the company as she said she was not speaking to advance anyone's commercial interests, but wanted to use it as an example of capacity further afield.
Cara acknowledged that vetting additional therapists could be a 'cumbersome' process, but stressed that this was a separate argument to one about a lack of capacity.
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Cara is campaigning against a backlog in the assessment of needs (AON) system. Photo: Liam McBurney/PA
At the briefing hosted by Sinn Féin in conjunction with other opposition politicians, Cara called for the Government to declare the situation around AONs as 'national emergency'.
She also called on the Government to implement a taskforce to recruit therapists, and for all members of the Oireachtas to physically find and put forward psychologists and therapists to the HSE.
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Following the briefing, Cara held a meeting with Minister of State for Mental Health and Government Chief Whip Mary Butler.
She asked the Minister to bring her evidence around potential capacity solutions to Cabinet, as well as her request for political unity on the matter.
A spokesman for Ms Butler said the minister had committed to relaying Cara's message to ministerial colleagues.
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