Mary Coughlan
Question:99 Miss Coughlan asked the Minister for Justice the plans, if any, she has to negotiate for the provision of additional beds for prisoners at the Central Mental Hospital at Dundrum, Dublin 14. [18404/96]
Written Answers. - Dundrum (Dublin) Hospital.
I am aware of the need for sufficient beds in the Central Mental Hospital to accommodate prisoners requiring treatment and to eliminate the unsatisfactory situation of these mentally ill prisoners being placed on a waiting list for such beds. To this end, officials of my Department sat on a working group on the development of services for the care of the mentally disturbed at the Central Mental Hospital. This group was under the auspices of the Department of Health and also comprised officials of that Department and of the Eastern Health Board.
The working group reported to the Minister for Health in June 1995. A key finding of the group was that additional places could be made available in the Central Mental Hospital if persons who have been assessed as fit for discharge by the clinical director were transferred to mainstream psychiatric services. The Minister for Health accepted the recommendations of the report and asked the assistant inspector of mental hospitals to facilitate the transfer of these persons to local mental health services.
Furthermore, I have taken a personal interest in this question and I have kept in touch with the Minister for Health in this respect. Progress has been slow in effecting transfers of suitable patients from the Central Mental Hospital to local psychiatric hospitals but, as I understand it, dialogue continues between the Department of Health and the health boards in this regard.