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	The deadline by which all centres for people with disabilities must be registered with the Health Information and Quality Authority has been extended by over two years.</p>
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	The decision was passed as part of the Health Amendment Bill brought forward by Minister of State with responsibility for Disability Finian McGrath in the D&aacute;il this morning.</p>
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	As of June 2016, approximately just half of all residential facilities for people with disabilities around the country were registered to ensure they are fully compliant with the health watchdog&#39;s regulations.</p>
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	Mr McGrath told the D&aacute;il that HIQA had requested the time extension in order to complete its work.</p>
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	In all there are just over 1,000 residential facilities for people with disabilities around the country but as of June 2016 just 556 were registered to ensure they are fully compliant with HIQA regulations.</p>
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	The registration process is now expected to conclude by the end of 2018; it began in November 2013.</p>
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	Advocacy groups have expressed concern at news of the delay.</p>
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	Inclusion Ireland CEO Paddy Connolly said the urgency with which the registration process has been carried out to date must continue.</p>
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	He said it would be a matter of concern if the delay meant residential facilities that have not yet reached basic standards would continue to operate.</p>
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	He added that the Government should use the opportunity of the extended timeline to reduce the number of people with disabilities living in congregated settings.</p>
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	Sinn F&eacute;in spokesperson on disability rights Caoimhgh&iacute;n &Oacute; Caol&aacute;in said while his party wished that all centres had been registered at this stage, he understood the difficulties involved.</p>
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	But he queried if there were &quot;any other factors leading to the delay&quot;, such as resource constraints.</p>
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	The same point was also raised by Independent TD Catherine Connolly, who asked if the &quot;bottom line&quot; was that there was a failure to allocate enough resources to HIQA.</p>
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	She added that while the Government has committed to ratifying the European Convention on Human Rights this year, it has also &quot;dragged its heel&quot; on this issue and has failed to be &quot;proactive&quot;.</p>
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	Ministers also raised revelations by RT&Eacute; Investigates in the last week from a leaked internal HSE report showing that hundreds of people with intellectual disabilities in the southeast were failed by State care services.</p>
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	Mr McGrath said the cases revealed gave him &quot;cause for concern&quot; and the report had detailed &quot;unacceptable events&quot; both historical and recent.</p>
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	He committed that during his tenure people with disabilities in the care of the State will be given full protection and all historical issues will be investigated.</p>
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	The minister said a meeting he and Minister for Health Simon Harris had with the Health Service Executive on Monday was &quot;tough and difficult&quot;. He said they made clear their concerns regarding the revelations exposed by RT&Eacute; Investigates.</p>
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	He added that while changes cannot happen overnight, improvements in services were under way.</p>
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	Fianna F&aacute;il spokesperson on disability Margaret Murphy O&#39;Mahony described the revelations as &quot;shocking&quot; and &quot;shameful&quot;.</p>
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	She said that many people who had watched the Lost in Care report had &quot;reacted with anger but were not surprised&quot; by the findings.</p>
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	The people at the centre of the revelations had essentially been seen as &quot;non-persons&quot;, she said.</p>
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	She said the public needed to know if other similar deficiencies or reports as highlighted by RT&Eacute; existed around the country and what reassurances Government had received to ensure this was not the case.</p>
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	Over five months after a Commission of Investigation was promised to examine the circumstances of the Grace foster home case, she said it had yet to be set up and she questioned if its terms of reference will now be broadened.</p>
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	The public needed &quot;to be confident that there won&#39;t be any more revelations&quot;, she said.</p>
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	Ms Murphy O&#39;Mahony added that Minister McGrath and his department needed to &quot;step up the campaign&quot; to bring congregated settings for people with disabilities to an end, saying the fact that &quot;not much had been achieved&quot; since the RT&Eacute; Investigates programme on &Aacute;ras Attracta was &quot;wholly inadequate&quot;.</p>
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	Independent TD Maureen O&#39;Sullivan also said she found the stories revealed by RT&Eacute; to be &quot;horrific&quot;, adding that she thought the stories that came from the industrial schools and the Magdalene Laundries were bad but the latest revelations had amounted to more of the same.</p>
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	She urged the Government to be more proactive so that these stories are not always heard through the media first.</p>
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	Ms O&#39;Sullivan said it was pointless registering facilities for the disabled if there was no follow up and she said she was disappointed that the HIQA registration deadline had not been met.</p>
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	Reacting, Minister McGrath said he shared the TDs &quot;deep concerns&quot; about the care of people with disabilities and that the mindset towards these people would have to change, but said getting this issue to the top of the political agenda can sometimes be difficult.</p>
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	He admitted that disability services have been &quot;devastated&quot; for the last ten years and that &quot;we need to up our game&quot;.</p>
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	Minister McGrath said he &quot;hoped to God we have learned lessons&quot; as he too felt very frustrated by the recent revelations.</p>
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	He added that the report by Senior Counsel Conor Dignam on the Grace case, which will inform the terms of reference for the upcoming Commission of Investigation, is expected very shortly, as is the inter-agency review into the Mary case.</p>
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	(Published by RTE.ie on the 20th July 2016)</p>
<p>
	<a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/0720/803643-hiqa-disability-centres/">http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/0720/803643-hiqa-disability-centres/</a></p>
