Mr. John Farrelly:

I will speak about the figures we have given. It came to our attention during Covid. The figures went up at the start of Covid and people were especially vulnerable. It seems that the gaps in our health system are being filled by our justice system, that is, by the Garda. With the lack of community services, gardaí are stepping in. To give a sense of this, 650 people end up detained in a centre. There is a whole process to vindicate your rights, including tribunals to ensure that things are procedurally correct and that you also have a mental disorder, because deprivation of liberty obviously must be in accordance with law where it happens and must be limited. Our understanding from the Garda is that section 12 was used approximately 5,700 times in 2020. If only 650 of them ended up in a centre, what happened to the other 5,100 cases?