It’s a strange day in the Dáil when a schoolgirl makes the Government squirm with embarrassment

Another outbreak of unity from the Combined Opposition.

If it makes a habit of this, life in the Dáil could become very uncomfortable for the Coalition.

Constant discombobulation at the hands of the Combopposition.

The Government wouldn’t like that.

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But then, the smaller opposition parties wouldn’t like it very much either. The warm breath of Sinn Féin in expansionary mode would be a worry.

Sometimes though, the only option is to join forces. This was always going to be the case on Tuesday when 14-year-old Cara Darmody began her well-flagged 50-hour protest outside Leinster House.

The secondary school student from Co Tipperary wants the Government to abide by the law and provide children with assessment of service needs within a six-month period.

Cara is a seasoned campaigner at this stage. She became an activist at the age of 11, angered by the lack of services available to her two severely autistic brothers and determined to bring about an improvement.

When the Dáil reconvened this week, there was no doubt that just one issue would dominate proceedings: the soaring numbers of children with special needs waiting to have their condition formally identified so they can get the treatment they require.

The law states this assessment must be carried out first, with no service plan before it is completed, regardless of the level of intervention needed or the severity of disability.

The current system is overwhelmed and despite the Government throwing money at the problem, things are getting worse.

The list is growing and growing. And now, a schoolgirl is on a sleepout protest outside parliament in an effort to make the Government sort out the situation.

Cara Darmody knows how to lobby. She has been in Leinster House on dozens of occasions. Many, many TDs and senators – from Taoiseach and Tánaiste down – were already on first-name terms with her when her action this week hit the headlines.

She briefed members of the Opposition on her intentions a fortnight ago and sought their support.

Last week, they informed the Dáil that Cara would be back again to fight her case and they would be there with her.

One of them, Gary Gannon of the Social Democrats, said her “simple call for a legal requirement for assessment of needs should unify us around a collection motion so that Cara can know that when she shows up, so do the rest of us.”

She did and they did too.

She sat at a makeshift school desk on the footpath inside a small fenced enclosure. She is studying for her end-of-year exams. Her tent was there too.

All morning, Opposition TDs and senators came out to see her. Opposition leaders came out together to pose for a photograph with her. Government TDs came to talk too.

When Leaders’ Questions began at 2pm, Cara and her father Mark were in the visitors’ gallery.

It wasn’t the first time she heard these promises

All the speakers singled her out for mention.

This was a tough session for Taoiseach Micheál Martin. He had no axe to grind with the combined forces berating him from across the floor.

“I appreciate the work Cara Darmody has been doing,” he said, treading on eggshells in this highly charged debate.

The usual hostilities were set aside. This was not an occasion for making political charges.

The Taoiseach talked of “a step change” and taking “a multi-faceted response”. He listed the amounts of money already spent and the funding already earmarked to provide more services.

“I want to get this sorted.”

Labour leader Ivana Bacik sounded sceptical. It wasn’t the first time she heard these promises.

She said that exactly two years ago when Labour brought a Dáil motion, with the support and encouragement of Cara Darmody, setting out a plan to tackle the waiting lists and treat the chronic delay in diagnoses, she remembered how the then-minister of State, Anne Rabbitte, made a powerful speech about the Government’s determination to act.

But nothing changed.

Two years on, there is yet another Opposition motion – a joint one this time, tabled on Sinn Féin time. It calls on the Government to “stop breaking the law” and provide children with their assessments of needs within the stipulated timeframe.

The Coalition did not oppose it.

But then, pointed out Ivana, their motion two years ago wasn’t opposed either.

The Government shouldn’t have needed Cara Darmody to force a proper response

“Non-opposition is not enough,” she told the Taoiseach. “The issue here is Government inaction.”

As the debate continued, a stream of young secondary school students in uniform filed into the public gallery, walking past a fellow student sitting in the front row. Cara Darmody, dressed for her assignment, wore a black tracksuit.

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It’s a strange day in the Dáil when the Government is accused of breaking the law and its Taoiseach does not dispute this.

Micheál Martin says the law is not working and it will have to be changed. He was careful to stress that this would be done without taking away anyone’s rights.

The question of how this situation was allowed to run on for so long when the problems in the system were being highlighted on a regular basis is a more difficult one to answer.

The Government shouldn’t have needed Cara Darmody to force a proper response. The higher powers in the HSE knew what was happening. The well remunerated hot-shots in the Department of Health weren’t oblivious to the situation either.

A determined schoolgirl embarrassed them into action.

Beginning with six hours of talking in the Dáil. The six hours comprised Leaders’ Questions, Statements on Assessment of Needs followed by the Joint Motion on – you guessed it – Assessment of Needs.

Is there anything to be said for a Tsar?