The mental health system was run to suit the people working in it and not its patients, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties has claimed.
The recent report of the Inspector of Mental Hospitals contained "a litany of unacceptable failures to provide proper psychiatric care and an overall failure to safeguard the rights of patients", the ICCL alleges in a statement.
Shabby conditions prevailed in many psychiatric institutions, said Mr Conor Power, convenor of the ICCL's mental health working group. There was also a failure by many institutions to inform patients of their rights.
Pomorain@irish-times.ie