Five members of staff from the Áras Attracta residential care centre in Swinford, Co Mayo, are to be charged with assault.

The centre for people with intellectual disabilities, which is run by the HSE, was the subject of major controversy late last year, when an episode of RTÉ's Prime Time showed residents in one unit being physically abused, shouted at, force fed and humiliated.

The centre is a residential respite and day service for adults with intellectual disabilities and the programme, Inside Bungalow Three, focused on its unit three.

At the time, the HSE described the attitudes and behaviour of some staff as ‘totally unacceptable' and it apologised unreservedly to the residents concerned and their families ‘for any distress experienced'.

One of the experts who featured in the Prime Time programme, Prof Owen Barr, who is head of the School of Nursing at the University of Ulster, insisted at that time that the actions of some members of staff could be considered assault.

Thirteen staff members were suspended as a result of the programme and now the decision has been taken to charge five staff members with assault, following a Garda inquiry earlier this year.

That inquiry had looked at the actions of the 13 staff and a detailed file was then sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

The DPP has now directed Gardai to bring assault charges against five of the staff members. The remaining eight will not be prosecuted.

It is understood that four of the staff face one charge each, while the fifth faces a number of charges.

The charges will be brought under section two of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Persons Act. The maximum penalty if convicted is up to six months in jail, a fine of up to €1,905, or both.