State ‘failing to deinstitutionalise’ those living in congregated settings

Inclusion Ireland, the national voluntary organisation which promotes the rights of people with an intellectual disability, is accusing the State of failing in its efforts to “deinstitutionalise” people by removing them from congregated settings.

In a strongly-worded critique of what it said is the State’s “failure to act” on ending the practice of people living in congregated settings of 10 or more people, Inclusion Ireland also said the Irish Human Rights & Equality Commission (IHREC) should look into why the move from institutions has taken so long.

It also said IHREC should see if people with disabilities have had their rights abused in institutions and that the Government should set up a group to look at the money that has already been spent on closing institutions, as well as establishing a plan to close institutions and support people to move to the community.

The Inclusion Ireland report is being launched as the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) pays a visit to Dublin today to attend a seminar on the topic of deinstitutionalisation.

Inclusion Ireland referred to the 2011 HSE report called Time to Move on from Congregated Settings, which recommended that all congregated settings should be closed by 2018.

It said this did not happen and added: “Many people who lived in an institution in 2011 still live there.”

It said at least 2,580 people with disabilities are still living in large, segregated institutions in Ireland and said this HSE figure might itself be “unreliable” as it excludes some residential settings.

Describing institutions as an abuse of legal rights, the report stated: “It is clear that notwithstanding the fact that institutions are now regularly inspected, they are fertile grounds for abuse to occur.”

“There have been a significant number of people who have died and most have traded one institution for another with a move into nursing homes or other institutions,” it said, adding that in 2016, only 74 people moved out of an institution compared with the 96 people who died.

It said the HSE and Government have failed to deliver and claimed there is “an attempt to weaken the commitment to deinstitutionalisation”.

Inclusion Ireland also accused IHREC of “a failure to use its powers”, referring to a previous submission Inclusion Ireland made to it to investigate the area following the Áras Attracta scandal which IHREC advised it could not pursue.