Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The reason I keep bringing up this topic is that it just feels like an unstoppable process now. The HSE is intent on pushing ahead with this project. I raised it with the National Disability Authority because it had the UNCRPD as a central focus of its presentation and I was disappointed its view was that it could only comment in general terms about the UNCRPD and not about a specific project, not just here but in terms of intervening with the Government or the HSE.

The witnesses might be aware that St. Stephen's Hospital is the location for a new elective hospital in Cork. It is a very suitable location in my view. It is also a suitable location for acute inpatient admissions for mental health because those admissions are generally short term. What is being proposed in this project is for continuing care and rehabilitation placements for people with severe and enduring mental health difficulties who require 24-hour staffed support but who have considerable potential for rehabilitation and like anybody else would want to reintegrate back into their communities. The site in question is in an agricultural area. All the land around it is zoned for agricultural use. Across the road, a site is zoned for light industry. There is not even a footpath connecting St. Stephen's Hospital to the nearest service station, which is 1.7 km away. The nearest kind of retail centre is 3 km away in Riverstown, and there is no footpath for the first kilometre of that distance. There are no community amenities within walking distance of St. Stephen's Hospital and no plans to develop any. Many of the cohort of service users who will become residents there would have mobility issues. Most or all would not drive.

This reflects a complete reversal of the trend we have seen arising out of our mental health policies as far back as 1984, when the whole concept of community living was central from then onwards. That was the Planning for the Future document and it was also enshrined in A Vision for Change and Sharing the Vision policies, the HSE's own policy for people with severe and enduring mental illness and complex needs and the UNCRPD. The Mental Health Commission has written position paper on the adverse outcomes for people placed out of their area and away from their community of origin. The Care Quality Commission in the UK has also written very critically of this practice there. By every policy and standard that we are meant to be using to plan service, this makes no sense. The only sense it makes is financial sense for the HSE to centralise many of its staffing costs in the one area on a site it owns itself. It is, however, very much against the interests of the residents who will be there in future. It will also take away a great deal of funding for what should be smaller-scale community services in towns across Cork county and city.

If what I am saying could be upheld and if it was established that all of it is fact, does the commission have any role, potentially, in advising the Government or in using any kind of soft power or even just making a comment on a proposal like this if it was brought to its attention?