The Chairman of the Mental Health Review Board has criticised the Government for failing to legislate for the discharge of patients sent by the courts to the Central Mental Hospital.
Mr Justice Brian McCracken makes his criticism in the foreword to the board's annual report for 2009, published by the Department of Justice and Law Reform today.
The report says that the board carried out 167 individual reviews of detentions at the Central Mental Hospital during 2009, an 11% increase over the 2008 total.
Following a review, the board is required to make an order for the further detention of a patient in hospital or in prison, or for the conditional or unconditional discharge of the patient for out-patient treatment.
Mr Justice McCracken says the board has serious concerns that the legislation to provide for the enforceability of conditions of discharge has not yet been enacted.
He says this means the board's considerations for the possible discharge of some patients are severely curtailed.
