The chairwoman of Inclusion Ireland, Frieda Finlay, told the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality in a hearing that her 38-year-old daughter, who has an intellectual disability, “is a real person. She is an adult woman with all the same dreams and desires as her three sisters or any other woman of her age.”
Yet no one can help her to make a major decision in her life, she said. “She cannot make it either, be it on a medical procedure, a relationship or finances. The only way major decisions can be made is by making my daughter a ward of court. Also due to the Act, we parents must exclude children with intellectual disabilities from our will. Any property or money that they might inherit will result in them becoming wards of court.
She said the Lunacy Act had a serious impact on the human rights of people with disabilities under the 1993 Sexual Offences Act, making it an offence to have a sexual relationship with a person with an intellectual disability.
“Is it not the case that the right to love and be loved is a basic human right? Why then is there a law against this for one group of people?” she asked.