Five ras attracta staff for district court on assault charges

FIVE people are to appear before the District Court on assault charges following a garda investigation into the alleged abuse of intellectually disabled people at the HSE-run Áras Attracta centre in Swinford, writes Tom Shiel.

Those who will be summonsed are all staff at the centre, where footage was secretly recorded for a Prime Time TV exposé last year.

Following the screening of the Prime Time programme, gardaí in Claremorris launched a full scale investigation.

In a painstaking, unprecedented operation, a dedicated investigation team, headed by Superintendent Joe Doherty, viewed some 190 hours of film recorded for the TV exposé and took detailed statements from Áras staff. A file was then forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Gardaí have confirmed there will be prosecutions as a result of the investigation and summonses against five individuals are pending.