THE IRISH HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION (IHRC) has called for a complete overhaul of Ireland’s penal policy and detention conditions in a report to the UN Committee Against Torture.

The organisation also heavily criticises the state’s shortcomings in mental health services and psychiatric facilities in prisons.

The UN agency is due to study Ireland’s human rights record next month to see how it is meeting its obligations to prevent torture and degrading treatment and punishment.

Dr Maurice Manning, president of the IRHC said in a statement today that “Ireland is failing to meet these obligations”. He said many of the criticisms outlined in this report “are re-statements of issues that successive governments have failed to act upon”.

Manning said a cross-departmental approach should be put in place to ensure the protection of people in detention facilities.

Meanwhile, IHRC chief executive Éamonn Mac Aodha criticised conditions at the Central Mental Hospital, saying:

Living conditions in some units in the Central Mental Hospital are inadequate and do not provide conditions that are conducive to the treatment and welfare of patients and do not comply with the standards set out in the UN Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness.

The IHRC recommends establishing an independent inspection system for prisons and detention facilities as well as an independent complaints mechanism for prisoners. It said that detaining 16- and 17-year-olds in adult facilities should stop as quickly as possible.

Earlier this year, a report by the Council of Europe’s anti-torture watchdog criticised the “inhumane and degrading” conditions in Irish prisons.

Read the IHRC’s report to the UN in full >