Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The House will be united today in anger, shock and horror at the revelations in "Prime Time: Inside Bungalow Three" last evening. I commend RTE and "Prime Time" for an excellent example of public service broadcasting at its best. The revelations were shocking and they represented violations of human rights of senior citizens with intellectual disabilities. These citizens, Ivy McGinty, Mary Garvan and Mary Maloney, among others, had their basic human rights violated to an extraordinary degree. They were subject to torture, physical abuse and emotional abuse and the treatment was without question degrading. They were kicked and dragged, at times they were shouted at and they were not even allowed to attend to the basic necessities of life, which was revealed harrowingly in the programme.

There are many lessons to be learned from it. The Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, said to the programme that she could not give an assurance that this type of behaviour was not happening in other centres. I put it to the Taoiseach that we need to give that assurance and the Government needs to work very quickly, in terms of devising an action plan for every centre, to ensure we can give that assurance to other relatives of people with intellectual disabilities in similar centres across the country.

Professional staff should be recruited. It has emerged that the staff in bungalow three, for example, had at most ten hours training which, in itself, is disgraceful. One could see that from the programme itself. The culture that was allowed to fester should be wiped out completely. I feel for the relatives because they trusted the HSE and people to care for their loved ones, people with severe intellectual disabilities, and that trust has been breached. It is clear we need an independent inquiry, separate from the HSE and even from HIQA, into Áras Attracta, into what happened and into the culture and practices there so that we can learn lesson for the future.

In June 2011, a report was published by the congregated settings working group which fundamentally challenged the existence of these congregated settings and stated that "Congregated provision is in breach of Ireland’s obligations under UN Conventions. The provision contradicts the policy of mainstreaming underpinning the Government's National Disability Strategy". It also stated that "The ethical case to move people from isolation to community, and in some cases, from lives lived without dignity, is beyond debate". There were approximately 32 recommendations in that report from June 2011 and I believe a national implementation group was established. Can the Taoiseach outline the progress in implementing those 32 recommendations? A seven-year plan was outlined for the implementation of the recommendations, which involves all the stakeholders and all the groups working with the HSE.

The report stated that the case for taking action now to address the situation of people living in congregated settings is powerful and unassailable. It also mentioned to the ethical case to move people from isolation to the community. Will the Taoiseach outline the progress made in regard to the implementation of those recommendations? Will he also answer my question on the need for an independent inquiry?

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