Call for enactment of adult safeguarding legislation

A conference heard from multiple speakers based at home and abroad on the need for greater supports for adults at risk of abuse and to enact adequate legislative measures to protect them.

There are “critical gaps” in Irish law that must urgently be addressed to offer greater protection for vulnerable adults from financial abuse and coercive control.

Addressing the inaugural international adult safeguarding conference at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Safeguarding Ireland chairwoman Patricia Rickard-Clarke said these gaps across practices, systems, and organisations in Ireland are “very costly on individual lives and do not respect the dignity of each person as an individual”.