National standards for disability services have been finalised by the Department of Health which may result in the closure of organisations which fail to provide adequate services.
The standards, seen by The Irish Times, will pave the way for the independent inspection of all agencies in receipt of State funding. More than €1 billion is provided annually to the voluntary sector and health boards to provide disability services.
Any service that fails to meet basic standards may have their State funding either withdrawn or reduced.
A pilot project last year involving the assessment of care in almost 20 services found that almost three quarters failed to meet a draft version of the standards.
The pilot project warned of "major political consequences" given the high failure rate.
Under the new standards regime, expected to be published shortly, services will receive different ratings depending on the level of service they provide.
Groups which meet basic criteria will be recognised as an "approved service". Services will also receive a "quality" rating and an "excellence" rating depending on how they are rated by independent inspectors.
It is likely the standards will be implemented by a new statutory agency, the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA).
The national standards are the culmination of nearly two years' work by the National Disability Authority (NDA) and Department of Health, in consultation with disability groups and the voluntary sector.
Advocacy groups representing the disabled yesterday expressed support for the standards regime and said priority should be give to disabled people in residential settings.
Ms Deirdre Carroll of the National Association of the Mentally Handicapped of Ireland called on the Minister for Health, Ms Harney, to ensure the standards were speedily implemented. Ms Carroll said €1 million should be set aside in the 2005 Budget to do this.
However, the voluntary sector, which provides around 80 per cent of disability services, has expressed concern over the way the standards were drawn up.
The sector supports national standards but wants greater emphasis on criteria which are people-centred and which address individual needs.
The main umbrella bodies in the voluntary sector, including the Disability Federation of Ireland (DFI) and the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies, criticised the NDA's handling of the standards process.
"We believe the NDA as leader of this project has not succeeded in building the degree of partnership with the voluntary service providers which we would wish to see and that this inhibited progress at certain stages," the groups said in a joint position paper last July, aimed at persuading the NDA to alter the planned standards.
Nevertheless, the DFI's chief executive, Mr John Dolan, said yesterday the voluntary sector would accept the national standards.
"We picked up the needs of these people over the years, so why would we be opposed to standards?" he said.
When asked to describe the standard of services offered by the voluntary sector, he said they were "evolving" and that, in the absence of national standards, many groups had taken steps to ensure they were providing quality services.
