On 8 November, our Chief Inspector, Carol Grogan, and Deputy Chief Inspector with responsibility for services for people with disabilities, Finbarr Colfer, attended the Oireachtas to discuss rights-based care for children with disabilities.
They addressed the Joint Committee on Disability Matters alongside representatives from the Ombudsman for Children’s Office and the Mental Health Commission.
In her opening statement, Carol Grogan highlighted findings from our 2022 Overview report of the inspection and regulation of designated centres for people with disabilities, and how we continue to enhance our human rights-based approach to regulation.
You can read our opening statement here, and the full transcript of the meeting is available here.
Last month, we also held our third and final webinar as part of our 2023 Governance and Management webinar series for designated centres for people with disabilities.
With the theme of ‘The person in charge: role, value and importance’, the event aimed to support persons in charge and persons participating in management, with a greater understanding of the regulatory framework and the legal responsibilities of the person in charge. We discussed the role of the person in charge as a key component of governance and management, and the importance of that role in ensuring that the rights of people with disabilities are upheld and that they are provided with the quality of support that they are entitled to.
The webinar was well attended, with 850 people joining us for the event. Combined with our two previous webinars on ‘Restrictive Practice Thematic Inspections’ and ‘Being Application Ready’ which took place earlier in the year, over 2,500 attendees took part in the 2023 Governance and Management webinar series. Based on feedback following the webinars, and on the input of the Provider Representative Forum, we intend to provide more such events in 2024.
Thank you to everyone who attended these events over the past year.