The Mental Health Commission (MHC) has identified several breaches of conditions of registration, including prohibited patient transfers prompted by bed shortages, at State-run psychiatric facilities.

The Government and junior minister Kathleen Lynch were accused of prioritising “political expediency” over the needs of mental health patients as they were lambasted in the Seanad for shutting acute psychiatric beds in counties Galway and Cork.

A mentally ill patient with a persistent choking problem was denied access to essential speech and language therapy as the HSE did not have a service for adults in mental health facilities.

THE Taoiseach’s apology to the women who had survived the hardship and abuse of the Magdalene laundries represented significant social progress, for which he deserves congratulations.

POLICY for the future development of our mental health services is outlined in the Report of the Expert Group on Mental Health Policy, A Vision for Change (2006), which proposed a new model of service delivery.