Mental health report: When will we learn?

Anyone familiar with the litany of betrayal and abuse faced by Irish children over decades would expect — rightly — that today our services for children would be beyond reproach.

How could a country where the vulnerable were treated so very cruelly not make sure that there is absolutely no possibility that such horrors might be repeated? Yet the Inspectorate of Mental Health Services has reported that more than 80 children were admitted to adult in-patient psychiatric units last year.

That it’s almost a decade since a government report recommended that this practice be ended just adds to the sense of outrage and shame this report provokes.