'First night down!!'- Girl (14) sleeping outside Dáil to protest lengthy autism waitlists

A 14-year-old Irish girl named Cara Darmody is protesting outside the Leinster House in Dublin to reduce waitlist times for autism diagnoses in Ireland.

Cara slept in a tent outside the Dáil and is staging a protest against the Irish government for the long waitlists for thousands of children across the country with a disability or autism.

"Currently, 15,000 children are on a waiting list for the formal procedure, set out under the Disability Act 2005, that identifies a child’s health and educational needs. By law, children must be seen to within six months, according to a report by The Journal.

Cara has since met with The Taoiseach Micháel Martin where she can be seen stood alongside him in a picture posted to her Facebook account 'Inspiration by Cara Darmody'.

Cara has two brothers Neil and John who both have autism, and has been campaigning to have the Government stop breaking the assessments of needs law.

"First night down!! I'm live on Ireland AM again at 7.15am!! A huge thank you to my Dad and the amazing members of An Garda Siochana who stood over me all night!! Unfortunately they got absolutely soaked to keep me dry and to let me sleep!! The Gardai filled hot water bottles, minded me, and we're just incredible!!!" Cara said in a recent social media post.

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Cara captioned the post, "Don't let anyone ever tell you that sleeping in a tent doesn't make an impact!!!".

Cara made history in Ireland when she became the only person in Ireland to ever sit a Junior Cycle & Leaving Cert exam (maths) while still in national school.