A major Government spending package on disability, which was at the centre of last year's Budget, will not be enough to meet the future residential care needs of hundreds of disabled people, official figures show.
The National Intellectual Disability Database figures for 2005 show 1,840 people who do not receive residential support services will require such services over the next five years.
Demand is at its highest since figures were first compiled almost a decade ago.
The report's co-author, Steven Barron of the Health Research Board (HRB), said that if demand for residential services continued to rise at current rates, only a small proportion of people's needs would be met.
The increase in demand is due largely to adults, born during the high birth rates of the 1960s and 1970s, seeking residential services, along with people with intellectual disabilities living longer.
Overall, the report indicates that despite substantial service provision during 2000-02, and again last year, there is ongoing demand for new intellectual disability services and a growing requirement to enhance services.
In total there are 24,917 people registered on the National Disability Database. Almost 60 per cent have a severe intellectual disability.
Figures indicate that 97 per cent of those on the database receive a service of some kind.
Up to 323 people, or 1 per cent, receive no service despite their need. This is the lowest figure since the database was established in 1996.
While this figure has decreased, there are still 2,270 people with intellectual disabilities lacking a major element of a service which they require. Just over 2,000 of these people need a full-time residential service, and 284 require day places.
In other projections, it says 1,840 people who do not receive residential support will require it over the next five years.
A further 11,590 people are receiving services but require alternative, additional or enhanced services within the next five years. This group includes people such as children who will need to move into adult placements, or from training to employment placements.
A group of 275 people with intellectual disabilities inappropriately residing in psychiatric hospital have been identified as needing to be transferred to more appropriate locations.
The full report is available at: www.hrb.ie/publications
