asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health if his attention has been drawn to a resolution of the Joint Committee of Management of the Carlow District Mental Hospital, passed unanimously at their meeting held on Thursday, the 13th October, 1927, calling the attention of the Minister to the overcrowded state of the Hospital, especially on the female side, and stating that for some time past the patients have been suffering from a contagious skin disease which cannot be eradicated as isolation is impossible; and whether plans for an extension of the hospital were submitted to the Department, and if he will state what is the present position with respect to providing the necessary additional accommodation.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - CARLOW DISTRICT MENTAL HOSPITAL.
The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. Plans for providing additional accommodation on the female side of the Carlow Mental Hospital at an estimated cost of £15,000 approximately have been submitted by the Joint Committee. Having regard to the conclusion arrived at by the Poor Law Commission that provision should be made for chronic and harmless mental cases in auxiliary mental hospitals and that, if such provision were made, the need for enlarging the existing mental hospitals would be obviated, it is proposed to examine the feasibility of giving effect to the Commission's recommendations in the matter before sanctioning any extension of Carlow Mental Hospital.
Does the Minister know that the Mental Hospital Committee are strongly opposed to the setting up of an Auxiliary Mental Hospital, and that they will not send their patients outside their own area? I would like the Minister to take into consideration the fact that we are strongly opposed to the course suggested in the Report of the Poor Law Commission.
The matter arises as a definite problem in the Report of the Poor Law Commission, and is one which concerns the country as a whole.