Calls for Central Mental Hospital to be renamed something a bit less mental

Paul McRingo – Health Correspondent

The government and HSE are facing calls to rename the Central Mental Hospital something a bit less mental.

The hospital, which is part of the National Forensic Mental Health Service, is situated in Portrane in north County Dublin and patients are admitted under the Mental Health Act 2001 and the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006.

Some people feel uncomfortable referring to the facility by it’s current name and Suzy Sherlock from protest group ‘Dublin Says No to Everything’ told us it’s time for a change.

“It’s time for a change.” she told us. “In this day and age nobody should be called mental. It’s very offensive. You might as well call it the Central Madhouse. Or the Nuthouse. Or the Funny Farm. Or the Loony Bin. There’s loads more names like that but you probably catch my drift at this stage.”

Suzy said the word ‘central’ should also be removed from the name of the hospital.

“The word ‘central’ should also be removed from the name of the hospital.” she said. “It’s in Dublin so how the hell is it central? That’s offensive to people from the midlands.”

Okay she may actually have a point there. About it not being central. We’ll give her that one. She still sounds mental though.