Dr. Susan Finnerty:

It is interesting, and the point has been made, that people with disabilities need to be diverted away from the criminal justice system. We have to go back further than just the Garda. We have to look at what mental health services are providing. In general, what most mental health services are providing is an out-of-hours service that centres around emergency departments. The only option for gardaí at that stage is to bring people either directly to an approved centre or inpatient unit or bring them in through the accident and emergency department. On diversion, there are no arrest-stage diversion services in Ireland. A pilot is supposed to be starting in Limerick. It has not received any funding as far as I am aware.

It is a good model that is based on the Memphis model, which is the original police diversion. Were mental health services to be available to gardaí in order that they could assess whether someone has a mental illness or disorder and whether they need inpatient treatment or support from other agencies, that would be the key to stop gardaí bringing people for admission or holding them in Garda stations for lengthy periods while they try and decide what to do. Arrest at the stage of police diversion is really the key to stopping people with disabilities actually getting into the criminal justice system.