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THE SATURDAY INTERVIEW: HARRY KENNEDYA LIGHT EXCHANGE in a shop in Dundrum, in a quintessentially south Dublin middle-class neighbourhood, says it all. Asked for a newspaper and directions to the Central Mental Hospital, the assistant takes a quizzical look at this customer and bursts into laughter. "Ah you're a gas ticket you are," she snorts, handing over the paper. There's an awkward moment or two while it dawns on her that the request for directions is genuine, writes Kathy Sheridan

And the Central Mental Hospital is nothing to laugh about, frankly. Clinical director Prof Harry Kennedy says briskly that "it's a hospital like any other hospital". It's a view that is difficult to square with first impressions.