Legal body calls for powerful agency to protect at-risk adults

The report recommends four new offences, including one of coercive exploitation, to cover situations like 'cuckooing', where other adults use the property of the at-risk adult for criminal behaviour, such as drug dealing.

A new State body should have the power — currently only available to gardaí — to enter people’s homes, on foot of a court warrant, where they have concerns for the wellbeing of an “at-risk” adult, who is vulnerable to harm from another person.

The establishment of a social work-led safeguarding body is the central recommendation of a 1,000-page report by the Law Reform Commission (LRC), the State's expert and advisory legal body.