Mental health law reforms not sufficient to respect human rights

We have to seize the opportunity for real reform with the long-awaited Mental Health Bill. However, many of the rights-based reforms originally envisaged have been weakened or omitted, writes Dr Charles O’Mahony, associate professor in law at the School of Law, University of Galway

St Stephen's Hospital in Glanmire, Co Cork. Throughout the 20th century, Ireland had one of the highest rates of institutionalisation and segregation of people in psychiatric hospitals anywhere in the world. File picture: Dan Linehan

The long-awaited Mental Health Bill was meant to mark a new chapter in Ireland’s approach to mental health law, a chance to move beyond the paternalism embedded in the Mental Health Act 2001 and finally deliver legislation grounded in respect for human rights. 

Throughout the 20th century, Ireland had one of the highest rates of institutionalisation and segregation of people in psychiatric hospitals anywhere in the world. This legacy of confinement, rather than community living, reflected deep structural inequalities and appalling discrimination.