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Hospitals Building Programme.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 February 2005

Tuesday, 8 February 2005

Questions (386, 387, 388)

Enda Kenny

Question:

432 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the details of communications and nature of communications received from the Department of Health and Children requesting that the Central Mental Hospital be located on the same site as the proposed new prison to replace Mountjoy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3736/05]

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Enda Kenny

Question:

433 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if, in assessing the suitability of sites, his departmental expert committee was requested to give consideration to the relocation of the Central Mental Hospital on the same site as the new proposed prison or in proximity of the new prison; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3737/05]

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Enda Kenny

Question:

434 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason he favours the location of the Central Mental Hospital on the same site as the proposed new prison; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3738/05]

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Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 432 to 434, inclusive, together.

While the location of the Central Mental Hospital is a matter, in the first instance, for the Department of Health and Children, I am strongly of the view that a prisoner with a severe mental illness should be treated in an appropriately secure therapeutic environment and not in a prison. I must also recognise that we have prisoners who suffer from mental illness and it is in their interest and in the interests of the Irish Prison Service that a suitable facility be readily accessible to prisoners.

When the issue of selecting a site for a new prison facility was being put before the Government in November 2004, the question of siting the Central Mental Hospital in the same locality was raised by the relevant Departments. The Government decided, in principle, subject to further study, that the Central Mental Hospital should be transferred from Dundrum to the same site as the new prison facility. It was clear that the relocated Central Mental Hospital was to be separate and distinct from any prison facility.

I, as a member of the Government, fully support that decision. There are considerable potential benefits to the taxpayer and to the patients of the Central Mental Hospital. In particular, it will allow significant new resources to be allocated to the Central Mental Hospital and the construction of a state-of-the-art mental hospital. The question of further study and progressing the relocation of the Central Mental Hospital is a matter for the Department of Health and Children.

The committee that reviewed potential sites for a prison facility to replace the Mountjoy complex had no specific brief regarding the Central Mental Hospital and there was no written correspondence with the Department of Health and Children on the matter. However, the committee was aware of the proposal to relocate the Central Mental Hospital and that one option that would have to be considered was the relocation of the Central Mental Hospital to a site close or adjacent to the new prison complex.

As regards communications other than those referred to, my Department received a copy of correspondence dated 11 May 2004 in which the Eastern Regional Health Authority had proposed that the Central Mental Hospital be relocated to a new greenfield site with ready access to the M50 motorway. At a later stage, it was consulted by the Department of Health and Children regarding proposals on the redevelopment of the Central Mental Hospital at a new site. My Department supported the proposal and expressed the view that while the redeveloped Central Mental Hospital should be separate and distinct from any prison, accessibility from prisons was an important issue and should be taken into account in the selection of sites for the new prison facility and the Central Mental Hospital.

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