ResponseThe director of the Brothers of Charity in Galway, Mr Patrick McGinley, who commissioned the Kilcornan evaluation report, told The Irish Times last night he was hopeful that the co-operation of all involved would be forthcoming as the centre was closed down and the infrastructure put in place to allow its 77 residents live in the community.
Thirty four of the residents take part in its "Challenging Behaviour Programme".
The Kilcornan residents come from a variety of backgrounds, he said, and many had been residents at the former psychiatric hospital in Castlerea, Co Roscommon, which closed in recent years to be replaced by a prison.
"Kilcornan is not unique," he said of low standards in the residential care of people in Ireland with severe physical and intellectual disabilities.
He expressed concern about the John Paul centre in the Renmore suburb of Galway city, where 62 people with severe physical and intellectual disabilities are resident. It, too, is under the trusteeship of the Brothers of Charity. (Currently there are no brothers of the congregation involved in its work in Galway).
The people at the John Paul centre were younger than those at Kilcornan, Mr McGinley said, and progress had been made there over recent years.
He said he commissioned the Kilcornan "Challenging Behaviour Programme" evaluation report following the Brothers of Charity vision statement, and as there was particular concern about Kilcornan.
"That situation needed a clear-minded report such as I knew we would get from Brian McClean (chairman of the evaluation team)." What resulted was "very hard-hitting" and was being taken "very, very seriously", he said. Copies had been made available to families of those in care and all staff.
One meeting had already taken place between staff members, family members, and Mr McClean. A further such meeting was planned for tomorrow.
Kilcornan had been built 50 years ago, when the emphasis on treating people with severe physical and intellectual disabilities was institution-centred, he said. The trend internationally over recent decades was to move such people into the community, where experience indicated they had a superior quality of life.
It has also been found that difficulties could arise where long-stay residents had become institutionalised. That would have to be addressed also where the closure of Kilcornan was concerned, he said.
Mr McGinley also said that 5½ years ago he had asked the Western Health Board to investigate whether there were any complaints of either physical or sexual abuse arising from Brothers of Charity residential institutions in Galway. It was part of an effort to encourage people who may have suffered or witnessed such abuse to come forward, so it could be dealt with by investigation and counselling. The Western Health Board has yet to complete that report.
Nationally the Brothers of Charity had an evaluation "how are we doing?" system whereby two independent people would evaluate a component of its services, during which they would be asked to talk to all staff and families of those in care. Team leaders would then be employed to draw up an action plan to implement the evaluation report recommendations. "It is an excellent system," he said.
Mr McGinley has been director of the Brothers of Charity, Galway, for the past seven years. Prior to that he had been director of psychology with the congregation for 15 years.
