Another shameful neglect of duty

WE were reminded again this week that the reality of being Irish is very different to what we like to pretend it is.

Once again we were told that we are not the caring, humane society we would like to present to the world, that this is not a safe place for the weak, the disadvantaged or for those who cannot lead an independent life because of intellectual disability.

The great majority of the approximately 8,200 people who live in care are well looked after by heroic people who, day after day, do work that most of us cannot even understand much less attempt. Nevertheless a small minority are mistreated and vulnerable. And they need the immediate intervention of the state to make sure that they are treated with dignity, kindness and the compassion that defines a decent society.

RTÉ’s Prime Time, on Thursday night, shone another light into another dark corner of society and the abuse uncovered at a few centres is scandalous.

It is almost as scandalous that it takes a programme like this to push the issue onto the national agenda. It is even more scandalous that, in 2011, we do not have an inspectorate responsible for ensuring that the highest standards are met in the homes or institutions these Irish people spend their lives in.

We send people to inspect battery farms and fast food restaurants, we pay people to mind dolphins and natterjack toads, but nobody goes to check on these people already so cruelly treated by fate.

Adding a particularly Irish air of farce to the proceedings, the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) told Minister for State with responsibility for Disability Kathleen Lynch, when she decided to initiate inspections, that it would take 18 months to put the relevant structures in place. A year-and-a-half? How can anyone with responsibility for protecting those in such a vulnerable position even imagine that this is an acceptable timeframe?

Ms Lynch has requested a speedier response but it is chilling on so many levels that some HIQA official could even utter the words “18 months” in this context.

It reveals again the mindset that forced the authors of the first report on the implementation of the Croke Park Agreement to point out that a greater sense of urgency is needed if the project is to succeed.

The impact a cut in support for home carers can have was also highlighted. People are moved out of home into an expensive but inadequate institution leaving the security offered by family — and the security of mind of many parents — behind to run up enormous costs for the state. Surely it is not beyond our wit to manage this situation in a better, more empathetic way?

These are worrying, testing times but Ms Lynch spoke for the kind of Ireland most of us want it to be when she dismissed questions about resources needed to fund inspections by saying there are some things we have to do irrespective of our situation. Yes there are, but why does it always take an outcry before we do them?