Sir, - Mental health services in Ireland are still governed by legislation which is over 50 years old. The Mental Treatment Act (1945) was enacted in the same year as the Racing and Racecourses Act. It is a reflection of the priority given to mental illness in Ireland that the latter Act was comprehensively updated in 1994. A white paper on the new Mental Health Bill was published in 1995 with the promise of its early publication. The Bill has not yet been published.
There have been significant developments in the treatment and care of people with mental illness in Ireland and elsewhere in the 50 years since the 1945 Act. It is no longer acceptable that mental health professionals are required to provide services, or that people have to seek treatment under an obsolete law which meets neither their rights nor their needs.
Significantly, Ireland is in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights and the United Nations Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness, as involuntary detention procedures for people who are severely ill do not protect their civil liberties. Civil detention of any Irish citizen is a very serious issue and it is regrettable that Irish Government Ministers are to the forefront of tackling abuse of human rights in other countries while Ireland remains in breach of this convention. The following organisations are very concerned with the current delay in publishing the new Bill: Schizophrenia Ireland; Mental Health Association of Ireland; Disability Federation of Ireland; BodyWhys; Irish Council for Civil Liberties; Social Workers in Psychiatry; Royal College of Psychiatrists in Ireland; Law Society and the Irish College of General.
We want Mr Brian Cowen, TD, Minister for Health and Children, with the full support of the Government, to immediately publish the Mental Health Bill, so that after full debate a new Mental Health Act will signal a new millennium for our mentally ill and their families. - Yours, etc.,
Orla O'Neill, Schizophrenia Ireland, Blessington Street, Dublin 7.