Adult Safeguarding: Exploring Policy and Practice

(opens in a new window)Dr Sarah Donnelly has been involved in a number of connected research projects examining the topic of adult safeguarding policy and practice in Ireland and internationally. These range from a rapid realist review of the literature carried out for the Health Service Executive (HSE) in 2017 to desk-based (2018) and empirical research (2019) commissioned by Senator Colette Kelleher in order to inform the development and progression of the Adult Safeguarding Bill 2017.

In 2020 and 2021, along with colleagues in the Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW), Sarah has been actively involved in advocating for increased protections for adults at risk in nursing homes and has been interviewed as a national safeguarding expert on RTE Primetime Investigates, RTE News and authored an Irish Times opinion piece. Sarah has also organized a number of School seminars on adult safeguarding co-hosted with the IASW and is an invited member of Senator Frances Black’s Oireachtas Adult Safeguarding Legislative Reform Group.