THE head of a Dominican church has apologised to an intellectually disabled young man who was told to leave Mass because he was making too much noise.

MORE THAN 300 people with intellectual disabilities are still in psychiatric institutions even though the Department of Health admits they should not be there.

THE long-awaited and controversial Disability Bill will finally be published tomorrow after a delay of close to three years.

CONDITIONS in some public mental hospitals remain Victorian, while private psychiatric facilities are state-of-the-art, a damning report by the Government’s mental health watchdog has found.

DISABILITY groups last night described the Government's continued deferral of the long-awaited Disability Bill as a joke.

OVER 300 delegates recently attended the annual general meeting of the National Association for the Mentally Handicapped of Ireland (Namhi — the national representative body promoting the rights of people with intellectual disability) in Dundalk.

AN additional 25 million for the disability sector will not address core funding problems, forcing many voluntary organisations into further debt, disability groups have claimed.

Members of the National Association for the Mentally Handicapped of Ireland (Namhi), is to hold a demonstration outside the Dáil today to protest at government cutbacks.

THE Government today faces mounting criticism over its failure to reform disability services, as campaigners converge on Leinster House in protest at government cuts in the sector.

THE introduction of quality standards for disability services was long overdue, a lobby group for people with disabilities said yesterday.