Mental health services - Treatment of mentally ill a scandal

WHEN Tánaiste Mary Harney compared the Central Mental Hospital at Dundrum to the prison on Robin Island where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated, she set the scene for yesterday’s damning report on Ireland’s mental health service.

But not even Ms Harney’s description could match the appalling conditions illustrated in the report which says the services are in need of radical reform.

Ireland’s disgraceful treatment of its most vulnerable people is a scandal of international dimensions. At night, for instance, patients in Dundrum are locked in their rooms, most lacking toilet facilities, resulting in the practice known as “slopping out”.