Minister for Disabilities Finian McGrath has sought an urgent meeting with the HSE following revelations about the treatment of adults with intellectual disabilities.

An unpublished internal report leaked to RTÉ Investigates documented a series of failures in the care of hundreds of patients.

The document revealed that the HSE had no case files for almost 200 adults with intellectual disabilities in one region of the country.

Other files that did exist had not been updated in over 25 years and consisted of little more than a single sheet of paper.

The 2013 report, which was written by a senior social worker, examined 1,080 files spanning a 30-year period.

Among the key concerns identified were that:

• The HSE had “little or no knowledge” about most clients in the services that it funded,
• Services for adults were “very inadequately resourced”,
• Patients were left at serious risk of abuse because of a failure to properly identify and act on concerns.

In one case, the report said that a lack of information and communication meant that a vulnerable woman was regularly returned to her family home despite it being known that a relative had sexually abused her in childhood.

The home visits were to be supervised but the HSE worker who accompanied the woman had no knowledge of the abuse or of the need for supervision.

In another case, it was found that a client who had been placed with a service 17 years earlier had not been visited by the health board or HSE in the intervening period.

The client’s files contained “very little information” despite the placement reportedly costing €88,000 a year.

The report also cited the case of a man with Down syndrome who had spent his whole life in residential care but received no visit from "official people" in 16 years.

'Appalled'

Mr McGrath said he was “appalled” by the findings, which were revealed on RTÉ’s Prime Time programme last night.

He said a commission of investigation will be established once he receives a government-commissioned review of the concerns by the end of the month.

“In the meantime, I have requested an urgent meeting with the HSE to discuss what was reported tonight,” he added.

In a statement to RTÉ Investigates, the HSE said that “47 priority cases” of the 1,080 disability files reviewed were highlighted for follow-up.

It said the care and safety needs of all cases highlighted are being met and that there are “no current safeguarding issues”.

It added that a range of service improvements have been put in place to “safeguard vulnerable adults from neglect or abuse”.