A criminal system - A problem out of sight, out of mind

AS YOU read this at least 35 — but maybe as many as 90 — citizens of this State are in specialist care in Britain because we have no place to offer them refuge from the terrible disadvantage of their birth.

They are in that situation because they are intellectually disadvantaged and have committed a crime. They are just another representation of one of our finer hypocrisies: got a problem? Export it.

Not only do we not have a place of refuge to offer these people, we cannot say how many of our citizens are in this situation.

Doctors say it is difficult to get an exact figure because most of those using the service depend upon a range of voluntary services while others are held at psychiatric facilities.

As it stands, the State only provides services for those who are mentally ill, not mentally handicapped.

So, if you are unfortunate enough to become mentally ill, there is some hope that you might get a dig-out, but if you, or a son or a daughter, maybe a niece or a nephew, are born with an intellectual difficulty and commit a crime you are on your own, in the psychiatric ward or on the boat to England.

There are, it is estimated, 431 people with learning disabilities who have committed crimes ranging from theft or joyriding to arson, battery, sexual assault or murder.

Doctors from the Irish College of Psychiatrists have produced a report and it will be launched today. They want us to stop sending these people abroad and to use the money to establish our own services.

They suggest that two 30-bed units are needed immediately and that another 30-bed unit will be needed in the future.

They should not hold their breath as 11 years ago — 1997 if you prefer it that way — the Department of Health said three 10-bed units were needed.

They were not provided.

Two years ago the department curtailed its ambitions, suggesting that one 10-bed unit would be better than nothing. Possibly they imagined that a less ambitious proposal might have a better chance of being realised.

Silly boys and girls, of course nothing happened.

It is difficult to sustain outrage with our health system simply because there is so much to be outraged about. An especially enduring endurance is needed.

However, even those of us jaded by cancer scandals, inadequate cystic fibrosis facilities, breast check delays, accident and emergency marathons, maybe an elderly relative spending some of their last days on a trolley in a passageway, an immoral two-tier service, the closure of acute psychiatric services without the provision of alternative community-based services, the advancement of co-location, and, once again today, our recurring battle with MRSA, can muster enough outrage to know that this situation is just plain wrong.

We know it is wrong — as the government must — but are utterly mystified as to why we can even contemplate putting intellectually disadvantaged people in jail, in psychiatric units, or on the boat to England. But then we know all the other situations are wrong as well and that despite all the outrage and talk, very little seems to change. We know that we must offer something better to the people in this sad situation.

And all the while our Taoiseach is running to the courts to see how many tax advisers can dance on the head of a pin and how man political donors it takes to change a light bulb.