Victims of abuse at Dublin centre for adults with intellectual disabilities still living with alleged attacker

Residents of a west Dublin centre for adults with intellectual disabilities who were subjected to relentless physical and psychological abuse - including being punched, kicked, hit and having their hair pulled by another resident - are still living with their alleged abuser.

The abuse at the home in Liffey Services, Tallaght, which the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) found had left residents “scared” to leave their rooms, “shaking and sobbing” and “experiencing a high level of anxiety and stress in their home” had been ongoing for a number of years.

In a damning report published on Wednesday, Hiqa found there had been a “failure to protect residents” at the home which is operated by St John of God Community Services.

Hiqa conducted an unannounced inspection of one of two community houses at Liffey Services, which had six residents at the time, on November 3rd, 2022. The house inspected had three residents.

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The inspector found “persistent and prolonged incompatibility issues between residents [were] compounded [by] staff shortages” and over-reliance on agency staff. “Over a three-month period, 89 shifts were completed by relief staff.”

It found the residents had been subjected to “potential institutional abuse” and this “raised concerns regarding [St John of God’s] fitness as a provider”.

It found St John of God Community Services management had not responded to its own unannounced six-monthly audits of the service between August 2021 and August 2022, which had “highlighted deficits in complaints management, the safeguarding of residents, the level of risk in the centre and the absence of completed actions from previous visits”.

[ Adults with intellectual disabilities ‘punched, kicked and hit’ at Dublin centre ]

“As a result the safety and wellbeing of residents was being put at risk due to the inaction of the provider,” said Hiqa.

In its compliance plan, included at the end of Hiqa’s report, St John of God acknowledged to residents “that the current dynamic within the house is not in line with their will and preferences”. It planned to move one resident to “more suitable accommodation″ and “anticipated” this would happen “no later than January 31st, 2023″.

The Irish Times has learned, however, that the resident is still in the house. A senior source close to the service said on Wednesday evening “the resident has still to be moved” but added further staff had been assigned to the centre “in the last 24 hours”.

In a statement the service said: “We accept the seriousness of the issues raised and can confirm that a series of measures were immediately put in place following the inspection ... The situation has been under continuous review, and further measures have been put in place in recent days to address additional risks that have been identified until a permanent solution is fully implemented.”

A spokesman continued: “We apologise unequivocally to our residents and their families and acknowledge the distress and worry that this situation has imposed on them. We also acknowledge and commend the work of staff ... in both seeking to protect and support the residents and their efforts to find a solution to the ongoing problems for some time.

“[The service] takes its responsibilities seriously and will do all in its power to restore stability in this situation and deliver a sustainable outcome for those availing of its supports and is carrying out a full internal review into the circumstances that have led to the issues identified in the report.”

The Health Service Executive, which contracts the provider to deliver the service, said all such providers are “required ... to take all appropriate measures to prevent abuse from arising as well as to report all abuse concerns”.

Patricia Rickard-Clarke, chairwoman of Safeguarding Ireland, said it was “really incredible” that vulnerable adults continued to be subjected to abuse in State-funded settings. There remained neither adult-safeguarding legislation nor an independent adult-safeguarding authority, she added.

Almost a decade after serious abuse of intellectually disabled adults was exposed at Áras Attracta in Co Mayo in 2014, she said: “There are huge outstanding issues. There is no legal framework there to protect vulnerable adults at all.”