Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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388. To ask the Minister for Health if a residential institution is permitted to increase the dosage of antipsychotic medication for an autistic adult who is non-verbal and has a moderate to severe intellectual disability, without the informed consent of the parent or legal guardian, in cases where no decision-making representative has been formally appointed under the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015; the legal and ethical safeguards in place to prevent inappropriate use of psychotropic medication in such vulnerable individuals; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26681/25]

Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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389. To ask the Minister for Health the safeguards in place to prevent inappropriate use of psychotropic medication in non-verbal adults with intellectual disabilities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26682/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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For any patient the decision on what medication to prescribe is one taken by the patient’s clinician with evaluations of the effectiveness of a medicine taking place over time.

Also, under the auspices of the Chief Clinical Officer, the HSE established the National Clinical Programme for People with Disability (NCPPD) in March 2020. Ireland’s ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (UNCRPD) embraced a social and human rights-based model of service provision for people with disability, across all sectors. This presented an opportunity to develop a clinical governance structure to support the design and development of a clinical programme to achieve three distinct goals:

Place the service user, their family, community and representative organisations at the centre of the programme, with decision making influence.

Build on the structure of Operations, Strategy & Planning, and Clinical programmes as three interdependent but distinctive legs of the service provision stool.

Promote professional excellence across disciplines while enabling broad and equitable representation on an interdisciplinary advisory group.

The NCPPD is for people with physical, sensory, cognitive, intellectual and psychosocial disabilities; incorporating those with chronic illnesses or frailty; and those with transitory as well as more permanent impairments. For the 13.5% of the population in Ireland who report that they have a disability, the NCPPD seeks to support the provision of effective and efficient assessments, interventions, and supports for people with disability; that are evidence-informed and context-appropriate, and are provided within a social and rights based model of disability.