State 'fundamentally' breaching human rights

Amnesty International has claimed that human rights are being "fundamentally breached" by the Government's neglect of the mental health sector.

It will launch a lobbying campaign today, calling on the Government to implement A Vision for Change, its mental health policy published in January. Amnesty International Irish section director, Seán Love, said the Government had given little information on how it was going to implement these recommendations, some 10 months later.

He said the public urgently needed to see a detailed implementation plan backed by increased resources, and a review of legislation to protect the rights of people with mental health problems. "Almost every family in Ireland is impacted in some way by the neglect of mental health to date," he said. "What we are witnessing every day until this policy is fully implemented is a fundamental failure to respect human rights," he said.

He said the Government was legally obliged, under international human rights treaties, to provide the highest standard of mental health. "Yet, in Ireland, there is still a lack of mental health specialist services and a high rate of hospitalisation for mental health problems.

"There is a widespread lack of therapies including psychotherapy and counselling services, in breach of the right to the least restrictive or intrusive treatment." He also pointed out that almost 300 children and adolescents were placed in adult psychiatric hospitals last year.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said the Minister for Health was "firmly committed to the implementation of the recommendations in A Vision for Change."

Amnesty has set up a mental health lobbying network to lobby TDs. Its first public meeting will be held tomorrow at 7pm in the Edmund Burke theatre in Trinity College Dublin.