asked the Minister for Justice if there is a psychiatric service attached to any of the institutions where young offenders, who have been sentenced by the courts, are held.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Psychiatric Service.
44.
The answer is yes.
The medical officer of Mountjoy Prison and St. Patrick's Institution is a qualified psychiatrist and has the assistance of a number of medical orderlies who have received training in psychiatric nursing. The Mountjoy Prison hospital includes a psychiatric unit. Additionally, by arrangement with the authorities of St. Brendan's Hospital, the services of the Chief Psychiatrist there and his staff are available as required for consultation or to provide specialised treatment.
Offenders detained in Limerick and Portlaoise Prisons who may need psychiatric attention may be transferred to Dublin for this purpose or given in-prison treatment by the local prison medical officer in consultation with the extern specialist or given out-patient treatment at the local mental hospital.
I have no responsibility, of course, for the conditions under which children and young persons are treated in places of detention, industrial schools and reformatory schools which are under the control of the Minister for Education.
Does the Minister not feel some responsibility, even though it be shared with the Minister for Education, for Marlborough House, the remand home for juveniles on remand and otherwise on transfer? Will he not ensure that competent psychiatric examination is available in that remand centre, particularly for juveniles who are to be brought back before the district justice for final disposition?
I understand from the Minister for Education that steps are in train to deal with that problem.
Is the Minister aware that before he was born, these steps were in train at my instance and are still in train?
They are very much in train now.
They are in train now for some 30 years.
Question No. 45 postponed.