Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I can spare 30 seconds at the end of my contribution for the Deputy Kenny. I thank all the witnesses, including Mr. Farrelly and Ms Keane, whom I remember from my time in University College Dublin, UCD. I have a few questions for Mr. Farrelly and Ms Keane in particular. I have two brief questions. Is an authorised officer an inspector or superintendent or is it somebody with training? Ms Keane asked us to ensure that a person with a mental health issue would be in custody for the minimum period. Does she want it reduced to three hours? What specific period does she envisage?

When I worked in the courts over the years, I came across prisoners who clearly had mental health difficulties, which would lead to them not having an address or bail money. Initially, they would be remanded in custody for a week. This also applied to section 4 detentions where someone is arrested for questioning. One would have had concerns about his or her mental health but would not have been able to give a reasonable or qualified assessment as to whether the person had capacity to make decisions either when he or she was arrested and placed in detention or when he or she was being remanded in custody for a week. That person would often come back from prison having spent a week in custody and even though one might have asked for an assessment to be taken of his or her mental health, nothing was done in prison. The person would often be remanded for another week or two weeks, and nothing was done for a period. Has there been any engagement with the prisons to ensure that such persons are seen by a psychiatrist, which would assist their legal representatives in making a decision as to whether they have capacity? One is sometimes boxed into a corner when a client states that he or she wants to get out of jail by way of pleading guilty to a charge and one is not sure whether he or she has the capacity to do that. My question is whether there has been engagement with the prisons to ensure that access to psychiatric services will be made available to those people.