Health services for people with an intellectual disability are "a right", the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health, Mr Tim O'Malley, has said.
Speaking at the publication yesterday of a report on mental health services Mr O'Malley said: "Yes, every person with an intellectual disability has a right to health services of the highest attainable standard."
Mr O'Malley made his comments at the publication of an occasional paper from the Irish College of Psychiatrists (ICP), Proposed Model for the Delivery of a Mental Health Service to People With Intellectual Disability.
The Minister's comments appear to undermine Government policy which is to resist rights-based legislation for people with disabilities in the forthcoming Disability Bill.
In its submission to Government last year, the Disability Legislation Consultation Group did not seek rights-based legislation. Equal Citizens, Core Elements for Disability Legislation seeks a progressive realisation of services for people with disability based on their right to an independent assessment of their needs followed by the drawing up of a plan to meet those needs, as resources allow.
A spokeswoman for the Minister later sought to clarify his comment, saying he meant people with intellectual disabilities had a right to a general health service.
The authors of the ICP paper said services for people with intellectual disability remained significantly under-resourced. They hoped the paper would "unleash a chain of events that will lead to the development of quality mental health services for people with intellectual disabilities and their families".
Mr O'Malley gave an undertaking to implement the first two recommendations in the report.
"I give you that guarantee," he said.
The first recommendation is that "significant reform of the mental health services in Ireland for the intellectual disability population should commence immediately". The second is that "funding be ring-fenced and prioritised to develop quality mental health services in all health board areas".
