Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry, but I want to be clear on how the Department sees the HSE investing far more than €3 million in settings such as St. Catherine's ward and St. Stephen's Hospital. Some of the clinical specialists in the area voiced concerns. It was inspected three times by the Mental Health Commission in December 2021 and March 2022. The lead inspector, Dr. Susan Finnerty, said:

I was particularly concerned to note that the culture in one unit was reminiscent of a model of mental health care that might have been provided decades ago. There was a general attitude of negativity about the possibility of improvement in the lives of the residents. There was an emphasis on what they could not do, their potential for aggression, and the fact that they would always require this type of care.

This is before we are talking about the fact that people are sharing rooms and they are not in a community setting. They are basically off in a field in the middle of nowhere. I went and had a look. It really is something from the 1950s, and Ireland obviously has a very grim legacy in that regard.

I am sorry, Chairman, because I want to put my hand up to come back in on Garnish House in the next round of questioning, but is Ms McArdle telling me that when the HSE made a decision to underinvest in a building that provided an excellent service, which was right in the middle of a town where people were living in their own rooms, the Department at no point intervened in estates management in the HSE to ask whether the cost-benefit analysis is in line with national policy?