PEOPLE WITH disabilities are having their human rights infringed because residential care homes are “unregulated and uninspected”, the Inclusion Ireland annual conference will hear this weekend.
Chief executive of Inclusion Ireland Deirdre Carroll said independent inspections are due to come into place shortly for children in residential care on foot of recommendations in the Ryan report.
However, she said adults with disabilities were a highly vulnerable group who needed to be protected through proper inspection and regulation also.
Residential centres for more than 8,000 people with disabilities in State-funded care are uninspected and unregulated by the State.
Ms Carroll said a recent inquiry by the Irish Human Rights Commission into the John Paul Centre in Galway highlighted abuses which were faced by people with disabilities.
Ms Carroll added that, given the vast amounts of money going in to bail out the banks, it was “galling” that independent inspections of residential care centres, which would cost a few million to implement, were not taking place.
She also called on the Government to deliver on promises that legislation on mental capacity for disabled persons be brought about.
“We are still waiting on legislation on mental capacity for disabled persons. We are currently operating under the 1871 Lunacy Regulations Act under which people either have full capacity or they have none,” she said, adding that this had a major impact when it came to opening bank accounts and in accessing medical treatment and disability payments.
“We were promised this Bill would be before the Dáil during the last session. That deadline has passed. Now we’re hoping we might get sight of a Bill before the summer recess,” Ms Carroll said.
She said the inability to testify in court was another area where the definition of capacity was a critical issue.