Prisoners and the gay population are being marginalised and do not have fair access to mental health services, a report to be published today states.
"Mental Illness : the Neglected Quarter - Marginalised Groups, is the final report in Amnesty International's year-long campaign seeking the right to mental health for all. It includes recommendations on how mental health services for minority ethnic groups and those with physical and intellectual disabilities could be improved.
The report says fear of prejudice and discrimination restricts access to health services for lesbians, gay and bisexual people.
It cites US research indicating that up to 30 per cent of suicide attempts and completed suicides are made by people struggling with their sexual orientation.
The report found that research into the mental health needs of, and services provided for, the gay population is lacking in the Republic.
According to a National Economic and Social Forum report this year, there are barriers for gay people attempting to access mental health services. These include the tendency for sexual orientation to be overlooked and the view of a quarter of the population that they would not like a homosexual as a neighbour.
Ms Fiona Crowley, Policy Officer with Amnesty, says the high incidence of mental illness among prisoners here is partly attributable to the deficiencies in the wider mental health services.
The 3,000 people currently detained in Irish prisons are more likely to have a psychosis and major depression than the general population. "One in seven inmates suffers from a mental illness that could be a risk factor for suicide", the report states.
"Special psychiatric units for prisoners do not exist within or outside prisons, and the only psychiatric hospital that accepts prisoners is Dublin's Central Mental Hospital," it adds.
Despite a 1998 recommendation from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture that the provision of prison psychiatric services in the Republic be reorganised as a matter of urgency, the Amnesty report notes that "little action appears to have been taken on (its) recommendations". It does acknowledge a recent significant expansion in out-patient psychiatric services for prisoners. Today's report notes the largest minority ethnic group in the State is the Travelling community.
"While it is estimated that there are 4,790 Traveller families in Ireland, comprised of 21,158 individuals, there is little research available on the mental health needs of this community", Mental Illness: the neglected quarter finds.
It calls for the recommendations for mental health providers contained in the National Travellers Health Strategy 2002-2005 to be implemented.
Amnesty calls for the forthcoming World Health Organisation Manual on Mental Health Legislation to be implemented in full in the Republic.
The human rights group also call for a change in the process whereby the planning and decision making in mental health "may not comply with the right to self determination and participation, particularly in the case of those less visible".
Among the recommendations contained in today's report are the need for a system of personal advocacy and an effective complaints procedure to ensure that marginalised people at risk of mental illness are helped to exercise their full range of rights. It also calls for a public education and awareness campaign to counter the stigma of mental illness with a particular emphasis on the rights of people in marginalised communities.