Mr. Fergal Black:

We do not capture figures on that. However, the case load of the national forensic mental health service at the Central Mental Hospital is of the order of 220 patients at any time. These are people in prison with a severe and enduring mental illness. The greatest challenge we face within the prison service is managing these people in a safe way. Notwithstanding the best efforts of all our staff, including prison officers, nurses and doctors, this is a major challenge for us.

The imminent announcement of the opening of the new Central Mental Hospital should help. Recently, we have secured some additional consultant psychiatrists for the prison in Castlerea. We are about to get posts for the prisons in Cork and Limerick. We will have a full spread of national forensic services in all our closed prisons. The HSE and the Prison Service are delivering more forensic services to the prisons because that is where the need arises.