Cork residential centres forced to cancel activities due to staff shortages

Activities are being cancelled for people with disabilities in residential centres across Cork as staff shortages impact multiple service providers, inspections by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) have found.

In Horizon’s Cork City North 14, staffing issues meant there was no nurse on duty for a period in the evening, and residents “were unable to make choices regarding their daily lives and activities”, such as attending day services or community classes.

Between April and June 2025, one resident had attended their day service for 30 days out of 58 due to minimal staffing, and no resource was available to support them to use public transport to get there.

In Horizons’ Cork City North 15, inspectors noted ongoing staffing deficits, resulting in a continued high reliance on agency staff, with Hiqa describing the supervision and integration of agency staff as “ineffective”.

Both of the specific posts handling activities were vacant, and records had gaps making it unclear if residents had participated in some activities they had expressed an interest in attending. One of these had asked to go to a football match, while another resident’s community notes reviewed did not refer to any activities during the month of June.

In Cork City North 3, management had deemed staffing a high risk area, with six vacancies on the team being covered by relief and agency staff.

Activities cancelled

Planned activities had been cancelled due to reduced staffing, or to facilitate medical appointments for other residents. Horizons noted that new staff members had started at the centre since the inspection, and that “active recruitment remains ongoing”.

In the North 15 centre, providers said that “active recruitment campaigns are underway to fill vacant positions and reduce the reliance on agency personnel”, while North 14 management said that a business plan had been developed with proposals to increase staffing resources.

The Echo previously revealed that more than €11m was spent on agency staff in 2024 and 2025 by Horizons.

They were not the only service provider struggling with staffing.

Enable Ireland’s Ard na Mara centre in East Cork provided respite breaks, which were supposed to be like holidays, but staff shortages impacted on residents’ ability to make plans for their stay.

Hiqa said there were “issues in relation to the recruitment and retention of a full staff team”, with three full time vacancies including the clinical nurse manager, as well as long term leave, leading to the roster being supplemented by agency staff.

A resident had to wait for personal care to be provided which had impacted on their dignity, and complaints had been made about planned external activities being cancelled due to staffing levels.

Inspectors wrote: “While sustained efforts were being made to recruit staff to the centre, including the use of novel social media advertising alongside traditional routes, staffing remained an issue for the provider at the time of this inspection.”

Enable Ireland told Hiqa after the inspection that this recruitment campaign will remain active, and that a number of vacancies were at offer stage, with interviews planned for others.