Mr. James Kelly:

We are kind of staying away from that as a concept. Nevertheless, if someone who is detained in the Central Mental Hospital for a fixed custodial term under the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act continues to need treatment as he or she is coming to the end of that term, that is, if he or she is not well enough to be let out into the community, there is currently no direct path of access for that person to be admitted to the Central Mental Hospital under the Mental Health Act.

It is necessary to be transferred to another approved centre and be transferred back. It can be just a little messy. We are providing for direct entry for people who continue to need treatment and are coming to the end of their term, so that they will be able to be assessed like anyone else under the Mental Health Act, and they will be able to be directly admitted to the Central Mental Hospital as a person under the Mental Health Act rather than under the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act. That is one of the big changes. It is not changing anything fundamental but makes the path into the Central Mental Hospital a bit easier for those people, especially in what might be a time of transition and stress. We are also looking at setting out specific regulations around designated centres. The only designated centre in the country at the moment is the Central Mental Hospital. We are setting out specific standards and regulations for those centres.