Scandal over neglect of intellectually disabled must be tackled urgently

Dear Minister Lynch, First of all, thank you for your kind message about the article I wrote in last week’s Irish Examiner.

I have to tell you, minister, that I’ve never experienced anything like the reaction I’ve had to that piece. It was huge, and was mostly inspired by my daughter’s story. Some of it, however, sprang from other phrases in the article — words like struggle, difficult transitions, dependency, and the phrase “the battles remain the same as they were 40 years ago”.

And I have no wish to repay your kindness by being gratuitously unkind in return, but the harsh truth behind the stories I’ve heard since I wrote that piece is that our Government — your Government, the Government I support — is creating a scandal.