State fares poorly in study of disabled

Disabled people in Ireland spend longer in outdated institutions than the disabled in most other European countries do, according to a new study.

While countries such as the United Kingdom are spearheading care in the community schemes, figures suggest the proportion of disabled people in institutional care in the State is four times greater.

The research is contained in Included in Society, funded by the European Commission and conducted by disability groups and university researchers.

The proportion of disabled people who have spent more than 11 years in institutional care in the State is 46 per cent, the third highest rate in Europe. Figures also indicate that numbers sharing a room - 3.5 - in an institutional setting in Ireland are the highest in western Europe.

Mr Geert Freyhoff, director of the Inclusion Europe group, which conducted the research, said there were lessons to learn from the research for the Government. "Overall Ireland is not among the very good countries, but is somewhere in the middle. I do not think it is a question of financial resources. Rather, it is the policy of the Government."

He said Britain and Sweden were building smaller homes, closer to disabled peoples' family and friends, which provided a much more dignified quality of life. A spokesman for the Minister for Health, Ms Harney, said there had been major growth in community-based services in recent years. He said the 2002 report of the National Intellectual Disability Database reported a 37 per cent growth in the number of intellectually disabled people living in community care.

However, the National Association of the Mentally Handicapped of Ireland said that while there had been improvements, there were still "appalling" standards in some areas.

"For a rich, western country we still have people living in appalling conditions, in settings which are not inspected, and where they are denied basic human rights," said Ms Deirdre Carroll, the organisation's general secretary.