Vol. 251 No. 1
andMr. O'Higgins asked the Minister for Health if he is aware of the considerable public concern in the adjoining areas at the recent escapes from the Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, Dublin; and what steps he is taking to prevent such escapes and to allay public anxiety in the matter.
26.
asked the Minister for Health if he will make a statement concerning the recent five escapes by patients from the Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, Dublin.
27.
(Cavan) asked the Minister for Health if he will make a statement on the recent escapes from the Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, Dublin; whether he agrees that the present security measures there appear to be inadequate; and what steps he proposes to take to strengthen same, both as regards personnel and otherwise, with a view to preventing further escapes.
28.
asked the Minister for Health if, in view of the anxiety being caused to residents in the vicinity of the Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, Dublin as a result of recent escapes from it, he will state what steps are being taken to ensure maximum security in the hospital and grounds.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 25 to 28 together.
I think it is necessary to make it clear that a large number of patients in the Central Mental Hospital have not been found guilty of murder or other serious crimes. Whatever the nature of their crimes they have been medically certified to be mentally ill. They are admitted on Orders made by the Minister for Justice or by me as Minister for Health. I would like to emphasise, however, that these Orders in all cases are made on the basis of medical reports. The Central Mental Hospital is operated as a hospital where patients receive psychiatric treatment. As part of treatment it is desirable that they should be allowed a reasonable amount of freedom within the hospital and grounds. I am satisfied, however, that, as far as can humanly be foreseen, that freedom should be exercised in such a way that escapes do not occur. When escapes do occur I take a very serious view of the circumstances in which they take place. I immediately ordered an inquiry into the circumstances of the recent escapes and I appointed a group to re-examine security precautions in the hospital. The report of the inquiry into the escapes has been delayed owing to the absence on illness of some members of the hospital staff. The House can rest assured, however, that on receipt of the report I will take all necessary measures arising out of the inquiry.
The group which was appointed to review the security arrangements reported to me on the 13th January and I immediately took steps to have the recommendations implemented. These included the removal from the boundary walls of all projections, such as side walls of the ball-alley, which made escape easier, the raising of the boundary walls in certain places and a number of smaller measures which the group considered desirable.
The group also adverted to the possibility of moving some patients from the hospital as reduced numbers would permit of greater security.
In the recent past around 30 patients each year have been discharged or removed to district mental hospitals, or returned to prison, on an Order made by me or by the Minister for Justice. In either case the Order is made on medical advice. A fresh examination is being undertaken to see if a certain number of patients now in the hospital can be transferred. This question is being pursued at present as a matter of urgency.
I have, therefore, taken or will take all steps necessary as a result of the inquiry into the escapes and as a result of the report of the group which re-examined the security arrangements. Provision was made in the Health Act, 1970, for the transfer of the administration of the Central Mental Hospital to the new Eastern Health Board. This will facilitate the staffing of the hospital—a matter which has created considerable difficulties in the past owing to the small size of the hospital and the limited range of psychiatric activities with which the staff are concerned.
I am satisfied that the measures which I have outlined will prevent, as far as humanly can be foreseen, the danger of further escapes.
Would the Minister indicate why the sheets used in the escape from this hospital were left there for approximately five days after the escape? The sheets used by the people who escaped were left hanging from the wall of the hospital for five days after the escape.
I could not. say. I have no information in regard to this. All possible security measures have now been taken and I have had no complaints from the area of Dundrum of any assaults by the prisoners, neither the prisoners who escaped recently nor the ten who escaped in the last five years. The Deputy can be assured of that.
(Cavan): Would the Tánaiste bear in mind that there is at least one patient in Dundrum who already escaped from another such institution and caused death to a woman by violence, and that other members of that family are living in terror as a result of the news of these escapes lest that person would escape again? There may be other such cases of which I am not aware. Will the Tánaiste take steps to satisfy himself that, while these unfortunate people have liberty within the mental hospital grounds, it is made impossible for them to escape, and will he publicise the steps that have been taken so that these people may cease to live in terror?
I have published the steps that have been taken. Those who know about psychiatric illness will realise that it is difficult to say that it will be forever impossible for a prisoner to escape from the Central Mental Hospital, because if the patients are kept permanently under very heavy sedation it may be impossible to cure them. Therefore there has to be some minute risk taken that patients who are experimentally not being given the same heavy sedation as other patients may act with violence against a warder so that the psychiatric nurses immediately have to take the right steps to take care of the patient. However, I would say that with the steps I have now taken the chances are, I hope, very remote that anyone will escape.
When the Minister says a fresh examination was being made of the likely discharge of other patients, is it a panel of psychiatrists from the hospital, from his Department or from outside or from all three?
No. It will be the inspectors in my Department discussing the matter with the staff of the hospital and they will get all the advice they can about it. I could not make any special promise about that. We are simply having a fresh examination made, but before there is an examination of the position in the Central Mental Hospital, I would prefer to wait until the Eastern Health Board take over the hospital when there can be a completely fresh examination of the position in that hospital.
(Cavan): Surely it should be possible, while permitting certain freedom within the hospital grounds, to make it fairly certain that the patients cannot escape over the walls? Surely the Tánaiste will agree that recent and not so recent history of this institution would suggest that it is too easy to escape, and will the Tánaiste take steps to differentiate between various patients and take particular precautions with those that harbour grievances or have homicidal tendencies?
We have taken all possible steps, and I have already indicated what they are. These escapes afforded me the opportunity of having a thorough examination made of the security arrangements, and we have done all in our power to see that they are now sufficient.
(Cavan): I would like the Tánaiste to know I am not speaking about an imaginary case.
I have already repeated myself three times on the subject. Surely I do not need to give any further assurance?
(Cavan): I am speaking about a real case.
Could the Minister indicate if all the escapees from the Dundrum Mental Asylum have been recaptured?
They have all been recaptured except one. We believe one is in England and is in custody, but am not sure of that.
