More than 300 people with intellectual disabilities are being inappropriately accommodated in psychiatric institutions even though they do not have a mental illness, it has emerged.
This is despite a Government commitment to end the practice by 2006 and to transfer all patients into more appropriate community-based settings with access to proper services.
Figures compiled by the Health Research Board for a national database on intellectual disability show that 329 intellectually disabled people were still resident in psychiatric hospitals last year.
Health professionals say these people are among the most disabled in society, with many drugged to control their behaviour in the absence of proper therapies or support services.
Official figures show that more than 70 per cent of those still in psychiatric institutions are either moderately, severely or profoundly disabled. A Department of Health spokeswoman was unable to say when all such patients would be relocated. She said, however, that under the Government's mental health policy, A Vision for Change, older psychiatric institutions will be closed and replaced by more modern, community-based services.
Annie Ryan, a campaigner for disability rights and author of Walls of Silence - a book on the State's policies towards people with mental disabilities - said the Government and health authorities had let down some of the most vulnerable in society.
"They have reneged on this very important pledge. Furthermore, they have not given any explanation over what happened to money that was set aside for moving people into more appropriate settings," she said.
Ms Ryan's son, Tom, spent almost 20 years in a psychiatric hospital. He was transferred to a community residence in recent years with access to multidisciplinary support and therapies. She says the "incredible" progress he made shows what can be done to help hundreds of other intellectually disabled people meet their full potential.
Inclusion Ireland, the largest national organisation working to promote the rights of people with an intellectual disability, also criticised the Government's slow progress in meeting its own targets in this area. The group's chief executive Deirdre Carroll said the delays underlined the need to introduce proper standards in residential services for people with disabilities.