Alleged abuse in Donegal care centre 'could have been prevented' 

Ard Griene Court in Stranorlar where there were allegations of longstanding abuse. File picture: NW Newspix

The alleged abuse of intellectually disabled adults at a HSE care centre in Co Donegal “could and should have been prevented” by a fit-for-purpose inspection system, a civil liberties organisation has said.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has said the alleged longstanding abuse at St Joseph’s Community Hospital and the Ard Greine court complex in Stranorlar would have been prevented by a “properly empowered independent” system of inspections.

An as-yet-unpublished report by the HSE’s National Independent Review Panel, finalised in late 2020, said multiple adults with intellectual disabilities had been subjected to years of sexual assaults on the part of a fellow resident, with none of the victims’ families hearing of the abuse until December 2018.

The ICCL has now said a National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) would have prevented the kind of alleged abuse seen at Stranorlar.

“An NPM would mean independent inspectors would visit care homes with a focus on the human rights of the residents,” Doireann Ansbro, the ICCL’s head of legal and policy, said.

They would speak to all residents and where they discovered sexual abuse on this scale, they would be able to take real preventative action.”

Ms Ansbro suggested that under an NPM, which is allowed according to the UN’s anti-torture treaty which Ireland signed in 2007 but which has never been ratified, inspectors would also have been able to visit the private nursing home the alleged abuser in the Donegal case was moved to in 2016.

“We have serious questions about the safety of residents in that home after his arrival,” she said.

Ms Ansbro further called on the Director of Public Prosecutions to clarify her reasoning in not pursuing a Garda case against the alleged abuser any further, a decision which may see the initial report finally published.

“There may be other abusers. Their victims cannot wait any longer,” she said.

She added that an NPM would serve to alleviate transgressions of personal liberties in many other places across Ireland, such as in direct provision centres, which are currently inspected from a health and safety perspective only.

“Residents do not have an opportunity to speak to inspectors, and inspections are announced in advance. There are also serious concerns as to whether nursing homes and care homes are adequately inspected,” Ms Ansbro said.