The HSE does not hold the interest of families and residents of Ard Greine Court in Ballybofey at the heart of their decisions, that’s according to Donegal Deputy Thomas Pringle.
Speaking in the Dail yesterday during a special topic surrounding the implementation of the recommendations of the Brandon report, Deputy Pringle asked the Minister of State at the Department of Disability, Anne Rabbitte, if Government also believed if this was the case.
It comes weeks after the news that residents would be relocated to de-congregated settings – a decision families were not consulted in.
Minister Rabbitte responded telling Deputy Pringle that she was disappointed with the lack of communication, and that a safe guarding assurance exercise is due to commence in June:
In a statement, the HSE say it will take three years for its decongregation plan to be finalised.
HSE statement re Deongregation, Ard Greine Court, Donegal
Community Healthcare Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan, Sligo (CH CDLMS) continues to progress decongregation across a number of services including Ard Greine Court, Donegal. The decongregation programme, in place across the country as well as in CH CDLMS, is being undertaken in line with the recommendations from the Time to Move on from Congregated Settings – A Strategy for Community Inclusion report.
This 2011 report and its recommendations were adopted as national HSE policy. The report identified that over 4,000 people with disabilities in Ireland were living in congregated type settings, defined as, “where ten or more people reside in a single living unit or are campus-based”. Ard Greine Court in Donegal, established in 2008, is identified as a campus based setting. It is a Government and HSE priority to ensure that all residents in existing congregated settings are actively supported to move into homes in the community, of no more than four persons, with person-centred support that will enable them to lead the life of their choice and participate as equal citizens in their local community.
Family Information Sessions to communicate and consult on the decongregation process and plans for Ard Greine Court took place in April 2023 and were attended by multidisciplinary staff members and managers. Further communications and engagements will be undertaken ongoing as agreed by each resident. The CH CDLMS experience of previous and ongoing decongregation processes indicates that the current planned timeframe for completion of the Ard Greine Court decongregation will be up to 3 years from now.
The staff and management of Ard Greine Court, the Disability Services Management Team and the CH CDLMS Executive Management Team are totally committed to ensuring that all actions taken to support residents in the decongregation process will protect their fundamental rights.
