Republican News · Thursday 26 June 2003

Scandalous neglect of mental health must end

Supporting a Dáil motion calling for much-needed improvements in the area of mental health, Cavan/Monaghan's Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin described this sector as the "Cinderella of the health services" and called for the rights and needs of the mentally ill to be fully respected.

The Sinn Féin TD said the recent Amnesty International report on mental health care was a real wake-up call because it placed the rights of people suffering mental illness at the top of the agenda. He told the Dáil:

"For too long, the mentally ill have been without rights and without a voice. The Amnesty International report reveals how mental health has been treated as the Cinderella of the health services. Current

policy is based on an outdated review going back to 1984. This is an indictment of successive governments but it is also a call to action and an opportunity for the government to begin to get it right.

"People with mental health problems are stigmatised by society and denied the full range of effective treatments because of under-resourcing, a lack of proper training and inadequate strategies to deal with mental health in our health services. Our rate of involuntary admissions to psychiatric facilities is higher than the European average. The rights of people as citizens and as service users are not being protected.

"Following criticism of Irish mental health provisions by the United Nations last year, Amnesty International's report identified how far short of international standards this State falls, especially given our recent level of economic prosperity. During our economic boom, I believe our standards and performance were particularly poor and very regrettable.

Community-based treatment

Ó Caoláin joined in the tributes to Dr John Owens and Dr Teresa Carey, who has succeeded him at the helm of St Davnet's Hospital in Monaghan. "They have pioneered community-based treatment. The failure to take on board the merits of this approach in other parts of the jurisdiction has resulted in the totally inappropriate use of prisons as unofficial mental hospitals", said Ó Caoláin. "According to the Irish Penal Reform Trust, approximately 40% of all prisoners suffer from mental illness. The vast majority of these are serving time for minor, non-violent offences, often connected with their illness. Frequently, these people come into conflict with the law only after years of going without proper clinical treatment.

"Such people need and have the right to adequate clinical care. Instead, they find themselves imprisoned and often subjected to solitary confinement in lieu of treatment or proper care. They inevitably deteriorate further in prison. The cycle of deterioration often includes homelessness on release, and we have many examples of that in this city, which in itself becomes an exacerbating factor. Cycles of recidivism are virtually guaranteed in such cases. The government must end the policy of incarcerating people suffering from mental illness. This policy has resulted in a de facto criminalisation of the mentally ill, and is a violation of their human rights.

"I acknowledge the role of the Psychiatric Nurses Association in highlighting the disgraceful neglect of the mentally ill. It points to the decline in spending on mental health as a percentage of gross government expenditure on health, from 13.5% in 1976 to a paltry 7.2% in 2001. That is a damning statistic and revealing fact. The PNA points also to the need to ensure adequate staffing levels are maintained and that the appalling conditions patients are forced to endure in some of our institutions are addressed and redressed."