Torture in Ireland - Report we can’t ignore

IT is still true that a society can be judged on how it treats its weakest members. In that context this week’s highly critical report from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment admonishes us all.

The report does not reveal anything new or anything that has not been pointed out repeatedly. It points to the mistreatment of psychiatric patients in our “shabby hospital buildings unfit for human habitation”.

Representatives of the committee visited Ireland last year and found violence and under-staffing caused huge problems at some psychiatric hospitals.