GAVAN REILLY: After ten years, a first time for everything

Time flies when you’re both having fun and putting in long days. This month marks a decade since my first job in Leinster House, as political correspondent for Today FM. Perhaps there’ll be more reflections on that in a column to come.

Ten years is a long time to spend in any one workplace (albeit for two different employers) but one thing that struck me last week is how few times I’ve seen a minister persuaded by an argument they heard on the floor of the Dáil, and apparently agree to take on a new policy on the hoof.

But such was the case last week when Anne Rabbitte, the minister of state for disabilities, agreed to take on a proposal put forward by the Labour Party. They were suggesting that because the waiting time for a childhood assessment of need for autism is so long, the HSE should pay for people to get advance appointments with private psychologists instead - or at the very least, allow people to recoup the cost of a private assessment until the public waiting lists have been whittled down.

Labour were bringing that proposal because the HSE had agreed to cover a private assessment for 10-year-old Neil Darmody in Tipperary. Neil’s older sister Cara has become a vocal and regular visitor to Leinster House seeking better treatment for autistic children, and her fussiness got the HSE to stump up for Neil. So if they’d do it for Neil, why not for others?

Nobody quite expected Anne Rabbitte to commit on the Dáil floor to taking up the idea, and fair play to her for doing it. She says she’ll pursue the idea in the Budget if the HSE doesn’t meet her deadline of setting up new regional assessment centres by August.

All because of a fussy 12-year-old. Well done, Cara - keep it up.