Dr. Kathleen MacLellan:

Regarding that estimate of 18 people per year, we expect that we will learn very quickly from this pilot initiative how many people can be moved each year. We must find out what people in this situation want and what their future preferences are, how long such moves will take, what kinds of supports will be needed and what the enablers will be in this regard. We believe that the 18 people being moved this year will provide us with a great deal of useful learning to enable us to plan for the future. We will certainly be seeking to increase the numbers of people involved as much as we can for 2022. However, we have also derived insights from the overall decongregation context within disability services. On average, and even over the last year despite the impact of Covid-19, the HSE has managed to transition 120 people out of congregated settings into smaller homes in the community. The plan for this year, which is on track, is for 144 people to move out of congregated settings and into community homes. As many as 40 new homes will be provided throughout the year for people to transition into from congregated settings. Therefore, we are learning lessons from this process.

As the Ombudsman said, it is important that we get this process right. One of the lessons learned in the decongregation programme is that it takes time to work with people to find out about their preferred community, where they want to live, how they want to live - whether in a shared home or back in their own homes - and the types of supports which will make their lives meaningful for themselves. The challenge in this context is to try to balance the quality of such moves and the ability to create and provide for sustainable moves while also increasing the numbers of people moving out of congregated settings as quickly as we can. We recognise, and it has been recognised in the Ombudsman's report, that it is crucial for these individuals to see themselves as having a place within this programme and to be able to access it.