Treatment of People with Intellectual Disabilities in 1930s Ireland

The 1930s Irish Free State treated intellectual disability (then termed "mental deficiency") through a custodial, eugenic framework:

• Institutionalisation – Overcrowded, underfunded mental hospitals and county homes (former workhouses) were the default.
• Rights Denial – No legal capacity; decisions made by relatives or state.
• Social Stigma – Labels like "feeble-minded" justified exclusion from school, work, and community.
• Eugenic Policies – The 1934 Criminal Law Amendment Act allowed sterilisation of "mentally defective" women (rarely used but legally sanctioned).
• Family Burden – No state support services; care fell entirely on relatives.

Reforms began only in the 1960s–70s with community care, special education, and eventually the 2015 Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act.