ABSTRACT
The treatment of the insane has a long history in Ireland. Henry and Deady1 as cited by Deady2 argued that the evolution of Irish mental health services has traversed a continuum from being community based, through institutionalised care, returning in the second half of the twentieth century to a community-based focus. In his account of the history of institutionalised mental health services at Grangegorman in Dublin, Reynolds3 suggested that the first formal provision of care for the insane can be traced to 1708, when William Fownes is credited with constructing special cells within the Dublin City Workhouse for the care of the most disturbed lunatics.3 Following that, St Patrick’s Hospital, which continues as a hospital today, was founded on monies bequeathed for the purpose of building a hospital for the ‘fools’ and ‘mad’ by Jonathan Swift, Dean of St Patrick’s hospital (author of Gulliver’s Travels).4
