Vol. 316 No. 3
asked the Minister for Health the last date on which the inspector of mental hospitals made an annual report on any mental institution under section 245 of the Mental Treatment Act, 1945, the name of the institution on which the annual report was made and if he will make a statement on the matter.
33.
asked the Minister for Health when the statutory reports by the inspector of mental hospitals on the conditions in mental institutions will be laid before the House as required under the Mental Health Acts; the identity of the present inspector.
I propose, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, to take Questions Nos. 32 and 33 together.
I assume that the questions relate to section 247 of the Mental Treatment Act, 1945 which requires the inspector of mental hospitals to submit to the Minister an annual report on mental institutions and provides for the laying of such reports before each House of the Oireachtas and that a copy be sent to the President of the High Court.
I explained in a statement issued by the Government Information Services on 18 July 1979 that there is not the same need for such reports now as there was when the mental hospitals were closed institutions. Much of the statistical information which would have been contained in these reports is now published in reports of the Medico-Social Research Board.
I would like to make it clear, however, that the inspector of mental hospitals carries out the statutory inspections required by section 236 of the Act. This section specifies that the inspector shall visit and inspect each district mental hospital at least once a year and each mental institution not maintained by a health board at least once in each half year.
Reports on these inspections are furnished to me by the inspector and appropriate action is taken by my Department as required in relation to matters raised in the reports.
I might add that I am reviewing the requirements in regard to the inspections of and reporting on mental hospitals in connection with the preparation of new mental treatment legislation which I intend to bring before the House later in this session.
Dr. Vincent J. Dolphin is inspector of mental hospitals.
Could the Minister tell us whether, as a matter of fact and of law, the reports furnished to him on those matters should be tabled in the Oireachtas?
Yes.
Why have they not been tabled?
The practice fell into disuse over many years.
Is the Minister asking the House to accept that the fact that a practice has fallen into disuse provides him with an argument for flouting the law in this regard?
No, I am not.
Will the Minister take steps to rectify this situation and have the reports that have been omitted tabled?
The necessity to make those statutory reports has been largely overtaken by events and, furthermore, as I hope to be bringing in completely new legislation covering the whole area of mental treatment this session the whole question can be considered in that context.
Would the Minister not accept that a major aspect of the reports has not got to do with statistics but with conditions in those institutions and with the civil rights of persons who may be detained in them against their will, and failure to lodge those reports, which affects a number of Governments, is something he should have taken major steps to rectify as soon as he assumed office?
I would not agree.
Is the Minister suggesting that where there is a statutory obligation he does not intend complying with it because he intends changing the law?
I am not saying that. The statutory obligation will be up for review this term and we can all decide what is to be done about it. The statutory obligation has not been adhered to in my time, in the time of my immediate predecessor and in the time of a number of my predecessors before that.
It is basically an oversight on all our parts. Would the Minister immediately comply with the law?
I cannot.
What does the Minister mean? Is the Minister telling us he cannot comply with the law?
I cannot do it immediately. We will have this new legislation this term.
There are many existing reports.
Is the Deputy asking me questions or lecturing me?
The Minister has said he cannot comply with the statutory requirement to provide the House with information. The Minister is not entitled to say that. He has an obligation and he should fulfil it.
The Deputy knows that this is not the only statutory obligation in regard to the preparation of those reports which has fallen into disuse. If my predecessor, who was a Cabinet colleague of Deputy FitzGerald, had not been remiss, he might have a stronger case for berating me about the matter.
I am not berating the Minister in regard to his failure to do it to date. The failure is apparently due to a number of Ministers who have all in some way overlooked this matter. I am saying that now that the oversight has been discovered the Minister has an obligation to furnish those reports to the Dáil. He can bring in any new legislation he wants to in the future. I am asking him to undertake to fulfil that obligation to the Dáil now that he is aware of it.
I undertake to review the whole situation in consultation with the House when this new legislation comes before us.
Would it be possible, in relation to 1977, 1978 and 1979 to have the data published? I appreciate that for past years it may be difficult to get the information. Surely if we are to discuss a new Mental Health Bill later in the session it would be useful to have that information?
That is a sensible solution.
Could we have it for at least three or four years?
We should have it for the last five years.
Is the Minister not alarmed by the absence of those reports being laid before the House especially in view of his own highly publicised visit to St. Brendan's Hospital and to St. Ita's Hospital in Portrane, both of which we all know are in a disgraceful condition? The condition of neither of them has improved remarkably since the Minister's highly publicised visit. Would the Minister not agree that the state of our mental hospitals is something we should all be ashamed of?
Both of those institutions have improved and are continuing to improve very considerably. The laying of reports before the House will not improve those institutions.
Would the Minister not agree that if the matter came before the House at least the condition of them would be reviewed?
