Ten houses open for people with intellectual disabilities

TEN NEW houses for people with intellectual disabilities were opened yesterday on the grounds of St Ita’s Hospital in Portrane, Co Dublin.

The six-bedroom houses, in a development called Knockamann, have views of the sea, and each client has their own large bedroom. The houses have two sitting room areas each as well as good-sized gardens.

Eighteen clients have moved into three of the houses. All are from north County Dublin, and clients of St Joseph’s Intellectual Disability Service at the hospital.

Most houses accommodate men and women, though one or more will be all-male. The residents in each have chosen who they would live with, and who they would not.

At the opening, Minister of State for Health John Moloney said the work done at St Ita’s was “part of an overall plan”. “What’s happening here will be replicated throughout the country.”

He said the HSE report on “congregated settings”, which is believed to conclude that 4,200 people with intellectual disabilities are living in outdated institutions which need to be closed down or replaced, would be published by the end of the year.

“Often we have been challenged by what was there before. It is important we remember what is being done – for example, the awful situation at St Loman’s in Mullingar which is being rectified with a new 100-bed unit.”

He also referred to progress on improving facilities in Letterkenny, Co Donegal and at St Luke’s psychiatric hospital in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, and the end of referrals to Grangegorman psychiatric hospital.

Director of nursing at St Joseph’s, Eileen Kelly, said the Knockamann development would enable the clients to maximise their independence.

Another 42 clients will move into the houses by the end of next month.