A disability rights campaigner has been appointed as a confidential recipient for people who have concerns about alleged abuse in HSE-funded care homes.

Leigh Gath from Northern Ireland is taking up the post following the scandal surrounding the Áras Attracta care centre in Swinford, Co Mayo.

Earlier this month, an episode of RTÉ's Prime Time showed residents in one unit of the centre being physically abused, shouted at, force-fed and humiliated.

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

Following the broadcast, 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 at any time in relation to poor standards of care provided to them in Unit 3'. (For more, click here)

Ms Gath, a thalidomide survivor who was born in Newry, has been an active campaigner for disability rights for many years. In her new post, she will act as a confidential recipient for whistleblowers who have concerns about any kind of mistreatment of people with disabilities in HSE-funded services.

Her appointment was announced by HSE director general, Tony O'Brien, on Tuesday at a meeting in Dublin of over 200 people involved in the residential care sector.