The snail’s pace of decongregation cannot continue

A new report from HIQA has highlighted the need to speed up the transfer of people with disabilities from congregated settings, according to Social Democrats Disability Spokesperson Holly Cairns.

Deputy Cairns was commenting following the publication by HIQA today of an overview of its inspection and regulation of designated centres for people with disabilities in 2021.

“The report from HIQA today is clear – and reinforces what we already know – people with disabilities living in community settings have better health outcomes, and a better quality of life, than people living in congregated settings.

“Despite this, there are still 2,419 people living in institutional settings across the country.

“It has now been ten years since a seminal report, Time To Move on From Congregated Settings, was implemented as government policy. At the time, 4,000 people in congregated settings were identified as needing to move.

“A decade later, and there are still nearly 2,500 people living in these unsuitable institutions, suffering a diminished quality of life as a result.

“The snail’s pace of decongregation cannot continue. It is time for the government to commit to rapidly speeding up this process – and ensuring that people with disabilities can thrive in their communities.”

8 August, 2022

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