Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 6 December 2022
Joint Committee On Health
People Detained in Secure Forensic Mental Health Facilities: Discussion
Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael)
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Okay. That is really positive. I am not sure whether there are any other final comments. All of it seems to have come together in the past six months or so. There seems to have been a lot of activity here and it is perhaps a case of looking at what has come out of the task force.
Our guests have spoken about what they have been reviewing in their research and the further research element there. I am curious about the new hospital. After giving it a number of months to let it get up and going properly, we as a committee might look at the outcomes from that.
Something else coming out of the task force that I liked was it has given the short-term, medium-term and long-term forecasts against a number of those recommendations. I assume a number of those will have to prioritised within the capacity of the Departments of Justice and Health. Public health is very important. There are so many different areas that come together in this. It is about community health, Sláintecare, the pilot programmes we have around addictions and so many other supports. In Ballinasloe, for example, if you have a primary diagnosis in mental health, you can then get support for addiction but if you do not then that may not be available in the local area. There is also very much a lack of access to those types of supports for people with mental health difficulties. I hope the IPRT is looking at those elements within the community as well because to some extent the GP is the first port of call for families dealing with people with mental health challenges. It is about how we support our GPs in rural areas and networks in those areas to deliver care at an early intervention stage. That is crucial, as is working with gardaí around that.