Sir, - We enacted the Mental Treatment Act, which still governs our mental health services, in 1945. Uniquely in Europe, 10 per cent of the people in our psychiatric hospitals are detained involuntarily under a law enacted over 50 years ago.
By continuing to use this Act, Ireland is now in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. For over 10 years, successive governments have promised to bring our mental health laws into line with international standards and in accordance with the human rights covenants to which Ireland is a signatory.
Years of neglect by our politicians have resulted in public squalor and private misery. The Inspector of Mental Hospitals reports annually on our mental health services. His report for 1997 on St Joseph's Mental Handicap Service, Portrane states:
"Conditions in Unit 11 has deteriorated since the previous inspection. The condition of the toilets was unacceptable: seats were missing from the toilets, the boards at the back of the toilets contained smeared faeces and a terrible stench emanated from the area. There were no taps or handles on the wash hand basins, no soap and no towels, windows which had been broken were boarded up. One exit door had been boarded up with plywood. This constitutes a serious fire hazard as this door was a fire exit. The internal locking system appeared to be defective and some of the external doors were in a poor state of repair. No lights were functioning in one of the day rooms and toilet areas. Patients were groping around in the toilet in the dark." We have built one economy, but created two Irelands: the "visible" one, which has choice, and the "forgotten" one, which has none. We must treat those with mental disabilities with dignity and services which we ourselves would want and under laws which reflect the highest principles of human rights.
Action must match promises by governments to build the best mental health services and there must be all party agreement to use every resource of the Oireachtas to:
publish, agree and enact a Mental Health Bill which incorporates the highest standards of human rights conventions;
ensure that resources are available to ensure a planned strategy for its implementation and a commitment to develop the best services and demolish the worst;
guarantee a full debate in the Oireachtas annually on the Report of the Inspector of Mental Hospitals;
encourage all members of the Oireachtas to hold their political "clinics" in a psychiatric hospital in their constituencies to demonstrate their concern for the right and care of all patients. - Yours, etc.,
Andrew Logue, Blackrock, Co Dublin.