Mental Health Reform has today (22/06/2015) welcomed the recommendation by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that implementation of the Government’s mental health policy A Vision for Change be expedited through the allocation of sufficient resources for mental health services. The Committee was giving its concluding observations in response to the third periodic report by Ireland on its implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Shari McDaid, Director of Mental Health Reform, commented: “The UN Committee’s remarks are very welcome, as they clearly identify that the Government needs to give greater priority to mental health care. In our input to the civil society report for the Committee, we had called for the provision of adequate resources to ensure that good quality multidisciplinary mental health care is available across the country.”
“The Committee also highlighted the ongoing problem of the admission of children with mental health difficulties to inpatient units for adults. Last year, 89 children were admitted to adult units. Mental Health Reform has said that no child or young person should be placed inappropriately in an adult facility”, continued Dr McDaid.
“The social inclusion of people with disabilities is another issue the Committee has drawn attention to, mentioning the disproportionately high rates of unemployment among people with disabilities. People with a mental health disability are nine time more likely to be out of the labour force than adults of working age from the general population. There is an urgent need for an effective employment strategy for people with mental health disabilities. There is now an opportunity for the Government to show its commitment to human rights by implementing the Committee’s recommendations”, concluded Dr McDaid.
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Notes to the Editor:
Mental Health Reform is the national coalition promoting improved mental health services and the social inclusion of people with mental health difficulties. The coalition currently has 51 members. See www.mentalhealthreform.ie/membership/ for more details. Mental Health Reform acknowledges the support of acknowledgement of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government’s Scheme to Support National Organisations 2014-2016.
A Vision for Change is the Government policy for mental health. It was first published in 2006 with an implementation target of 10 years. It marks a shift from institutional-based care to modern, multi-disciplinary, recovery-focused and community based mental health services.
The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is the body of 18 independent experts that monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by its States parties.
For more information and to arrange an interview with Dr Shari McDaid please contact:
Lara Kelly, Communications and Campaigns Officer, at lkelly@mentalhealthreform.combinedmedia.com 087 6189715
