Mental health need amongst the intellectually disabled

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The College of Psychiatry of Ireland concludes that ‘‘the provision of mental health and forensic mental health services for people with an intellectual disability, as set out in A Vision for Change, requires immediate prioritisation’’ [1]. The issue is both important and long-standing. In 1907, Dr Conolly Norman, outspoken and progressive medical superintendent at the Richmond District Asylum (now St. Brendan’s Hospital, Dublin) lamented the absence of services for individuals with intellectual disability: ‘‘It is neither wise nor humane to neglect [the intellectually disabled] as they are neglected in this country’’ [2, 3]. References