Madam, - We would like to bring to the attention of your readers the extent of stigma that individuals with mental ill health continue to experience in Ireland.
The Irish Advocacy Network is an Ireland-wide movement that fights for the rights of individuals who have experienced mental health problems. Its membership consists of individuals who have used or are continuing to use mental health services throughout Ireland.
IAN set about organising a three-day conference earlier this year. Employees telephoned several hotels asking if they were able to facilitate the conference. They were astounded at several responses and suspect that hotel staff were reluctant to facilitate a conference whose audience for the first two days would consist of people with mental illness.
One hotel quoted an extraordinary price of €126,000. Another was concerned that medical or professional representatives would not be present during the conference to look after the "ill". We were finally accepted by Jackson's Hotel, Ballybofey, Co Donegal. Jackson's turned out to be a warm friendly place with excellent staff and a good quality of service.
We are offended that people continue to believe that individuals with mental health problems are unable to be responsible and capable citizens. We believe that this experience confirms the extent of ignorance and prejudice of mental health that prevails in our society. This should be extremely worrying to us all as mental ill health is increasingly prevalent in our society.
Our conference was a great success. We would like to thank the staff of Jackson's Hotel for their open-mindedness and for treating us as equal citizens in a respectful and courteous manner. - Yours, etc.,
PADDY McGOWAN, Irish Advocacy Network Management Committee, Rooskey, Monaghan.