Abuse in mental hospitals needs to be probed

People who were detained against their will and abused in psychiatric institutions are also entitled to have their cases heard and to claim compensation.

To date, the institutions of state that abused people, schools, reformatories and clerical boarding establishments have been called to account but so far the scandal of the mental hospitals has remained under cover.

The fact is people were physically and mentally and sexually abused in some hospitals. In many cases people were detained against their will.

Up to now those who suffered abuse in mental hospitals have not had their cases heard because of the awful stigma attached to such places.

Complaints have been dismissed because of the alleged mental capacity of those lodging the cases of serious abuse. Many women were abused in mental hospitals.

Others endured terrible shock treatments.

The time has now come to examine the role of the mental hospitals in Irish society and allow those who were abused in them to make known their cases.

Sean O’Neill

Republican Sinn Féin

Prospect

Limerick