An intellectually disabled man, who is being detained at Dublin’s Central Mental Hospital, has brought a challenge in the Irish High Court.
The man has been detained since 2009 after being found unfit to face trial following an alleged sexual assault. Lawyers representing the man maintain that “as he does not require medical treatment he should not be detained at the hospital, a high-security facility for mentally ill patients.” The lawyers also argue that “the man has an intellectual disability and should be cared for at more suitable accommodation.”
The man is firstly seeking an order to quash the original decision of the Mental Health Review Board (an independent body established to assess the detention of patients at the Central Mental Hospital) in addition to a declaration stipulating that his detention is “unlawful.”
John Rogers SC for the patient stated that his detention was in breach of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It was also stated by the man’s solicitor that his family are unhappy with the detention and wanted him moved. Justice Peart “granted permission to bring the challenge on an ex-parte basis (without giving notice to the other party).”
Click here to see an article by the Irish Times about the case.