PART V.

Institutions to be Provided and Maintained by Mental Hospital Authorities.

20. —(1) A mental hospital authority shall provide and maintain proper and sufficient accommodation for carrying out their functions under this Act.

(2) Where the Minister is of opinion that a mental hospital authority have failed in any respect to perform their duties under sub-section (1) of this section, he may by order require them to remedy their failure within the time and in the manner (if any) specified in the order, and it shall be the duty of the authority to comply with the order.

21. —A mental hospital authority shall provide and maintain a mental hospital for their mental hospital district.

22. —(1) A mental hospital authority may, and shall, if so directed by the Minister, provide and maintain a mental hospital, auxiliary to their district mental hospital, for the reception of patients who, not being dangerous to themselves or others, are certified by the resident medical superintendent of such district mental hospital not to require special care and treatment in a fully equipped mental hospital.

(2) An auxiliary mental hospital shall be either a separate hospital or, if the Minister so directs, a part of the relevant district mental hospital.

23. —The Minister may by order require a mental hospital authority to provide within a specified time specified accommodation for temporary and voluntary patients and it shall be the duty of the authority to comply with the order.

24. —(1) A mental hospital authority may, with the consent of the Minister, and shall, if the Minister so directs, provide and maintain, either in their district mental hospital or elsewhere, consulting rooms or clinics for affording advice and preventive and curative treatment in cases of mental disorder (including cases of suspected or incipient mental disorder) and for the investigation of such cases.

(2) Where the Minister gives a direction under sub-section (1) of this section, he may specify in the direction the place or places at which any consulting rooms or clinics mentioned in the direction are to be provided and it shall be the duty of the mental hospital authority to whom the direction is given to provide such consulting rooms or clinics at such place or places.

(3) Where a mental hospital authority propose to provide under this section consulting rooms or clinics (whether of their own motion or in compliance with a direction of the Minister), they may, with the consent of the Minister, arrange, in lieu of providing such consulting rooms or clinics, that accommodation at any mental institution or any hospital, clinic, dispensary or health centre will be available for use as such consulting rooms or clinics.

(4) Where a consulting room or clinic is provided under this section by a mental hospital authority, the authority may allow persons to attend at the consulting room or clinic as private patients and may charge for such attendances fees in accordance with a scale approved of by the Minister.

25. —(1) A mental hospital authority may, with the consent of the Minister, and shall, if the Minister so directs, provide and maintain a laboratory for research in connection with mental and nervous diseases.

(2) A mental hospital authority by whom a laboratory is maintained under this section may permit the services afforded by the laboratory to be available for a mental institution not maintained by such authority and may make such charge as they consider reasonable where any service is availed of under such permission.

26. —In addition to the institutions and accommodation specifically mentioned in this Part of this Act, a mental hospital authority shall provide and maintain such other institutions and accommodation in connection with the discharge of their functions under this Act as the Minister from time to time directs and shall provide such institutions and accommodation at the places specified by the Minister.

27. —Every institution which immediately before the commencement of this Part of this Act was an institution provided under section 9 or section 76 (both repealed by this Act) of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, shall, immediately upon such commencement, be deemed to be provided under this Part of this Act by the mental hospital authority for the mental hospital district in which the institution is situated and shall be maintained by that authority accordingly.

28. —It shall be the duty of a mental hospital authority to carry on in a proper manner their district mental hospital and all other institutions and accommodation maintained by them under this Part of this Act.

29. —A mental hospital authority may, with the consent of the Minister, and shall, if the Minister so directs, provide and maintain in connection with any institution maintained by them suitable residences or residential accommodation for members of the staff of the institution.

30. —A mental hospital authority may, with the consent of the Minister, and shall, if so directed by the Minister, provide and maintain a burial place for the burial of the remains of patients who die while being maintained by the authority.

31. —A mental hospital authority shall, as and when the Minister by order so directs,—

(a) enlarge, alter, or restore in accordance with the order any institution maintained by the authority,

(b) provide in accordance with the order new, improved, or additional drainage, ventilation, water supply, lighting, heating, or any other service for any such institution,

(c) provide and maintain in any such institution all such fixtures, fittings, furniture, surgical and medical appliances, and other conveniences as are specified in the order.

32. —A mental hospital authority may, with the consent of the Minister, and shall, if so directed by the Minister, contribute to the capital cost of a public water supply for the purpose of enabling them to obtain a supply of water for any institution maintained by them.

33. —A mental hospital authority may, with the consent of the Minister, and shall, if so directed by the Minister, contribute to the capital cost of a public sewerage scheme for the purpose of enabling them to obtain disposal of sewage from any institution maintained by them.

34. —A mental hospital authority may, with the consent of the Minister, and shall, if so directed by the Minister, contribute to the capital cost of providing a clinic, dispensary or health centre in which the authority (whether of their own motion or in compliance with a direction of the Minister) propose to arrange under section 24 of this Act that accommodation will be available as a consulting room or clinic.

35. —A proposal for the erection at a cost exceeding five hundred pounds of an institution to be maintained by a mental hospital authority or for the restoration, enlargement, or other alteration at such a cost of an institution maintained by a mental hospital authority shall not be carried out unless and until the plan or specification relating to the proposal is approved of by the Minister nor save in accordance with the directions given by the Minister from time to time.

36. —A proposal for the erection at a cost exceeding five hundred pounds of buildings intended to be attached or used for the purposes of an institution maintained by a mental hospital authority or for the restoration, enlargement, or other alteration at such a cost of buildings attached to or used for the purposes of such institution shall not be carried out unless and until the plan or specification relating to the proposal is approved of by the Minister nor save in accordance with the directions given by the Minister from time to time.

37. —A proposal for the repair or reconditioning at a cost exceeding five hundred pounds of buildings attached to or used for the purpose of an institution maintained by a mental hospital authority shall not be carried out unless and until the plan or specification relating to the proposal is approved of by the Minister nor save in accordance with the directions given by the Minister from time to time.

38. —(1) Two or more mental hospital authorities may, with the consent of the Minister, and shall, if the Minister so directs, provide and maintain jointly an institution for any class of patients, not being persons dangerous to themselves or others.

(2) Where an institution is to be provided under this section, the Minister shall make the appropriate order under this Act setting up a joint authority through whom the institution shall be managed.

(3) Where an institution is provided under this section, each of the mental hospital authorities concerned may remove to the institution any patient maintained by them, not being a person dangerous to himself or others.

39. —(1) Two or more mental hospital authorities may, with the consent of the Minister, and shall, if the Minister so directs, provide and maintain jointly a laboratory for research in connection with mental and nervous diseases.

(2) Where a laboratory is to be provided under this section, the Minister shall make the appropriate order under this Act setting up a joint authority through whom the laboratory shall be managed.

(3) A joint authority through whom a laboratory is managed under this section on behalf of any mental hospital authorities may permit the services afforded by the laboratory to be available for a mental institution not maintained by any of those authorities and may make such charge as they consider reasonable where any service is availed of under such permission.

40. —The Minister may make general regulations governing, subject to the provisions of this Act, the carrying on of district mental hospitals, auxiliary mental hospitals and other institutions maintained by mental hospital authorities and the admission to, detention in, transfer between, and discharge from such hospitals and institutions of patients, and it shall be the duty of every mental hospital authority to comply with such regulations.

41. —(1) A mental hospital authority may, with the consent of the Minister, make special regulations governing, subject to the provisions of this Act and of any general regulations made under section 40 of this Act, the carrying on of any particular institution maintained by them, and it shall be the duty of the authority to comply with such regulations.

(2) The Minister may require a mental hospital authority to make under this section any regulation which he considers necessary for the carrying on of any particular institution maintained by them and, if the authority fail to make such regulation, it may be made by the Minister and shall have the like effect as if made by the authority.

(3) Until regulations are made under this section in relation to any particular institution, all regulations or rules in force immediately before the commencement of this Part of this Act in relation thereto under sub-section (6) of section 9 (repealed by this Act) or proviso (b) (repealed by this Act) to sub-section (2) of section 110 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898 shall subject to the provisions of this Act and any general regulations made under section 40 of this Act, continue to have effect and be capable of being amended or revoked as if they were regulations made under this section.

(4) The making under this section of regulations shall be a reserved function for the purposes of the County Management Acts, 1940 and 1942.

42. —(1) The Minister, if he so thinks proper after the holding of an inquiry under this Act, may by order direct a mental hospital authority to discontinue as from a specified date any specified institution, not being a district mental hospital, for the time being maintained by them and may include in the order all such provisions as appear to him to be necessary and proper in relation to matters incidental to or consequential on the discontinuance of such institution.

(2) It shall be the duty of the mental hospital authority to whom an order under this section relates to comply with such order.