Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

During my tenure as Minister, I will also be introducing a new set of prison rules to replace the antiquated ones that now govern our prisons. With the Tánaiste, I am determined to bring to an end the scandalous neglect which the State has shown prisoners with mental health problems and psychiatric illnesses. It is our intention to replace the Victorian Central Mental Hospital with a state-of-the-art forensic psychiatric facility. I welcome the support of the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy O'Malley, in that respect. It is my hope that this development will dovetail with the new building of our prison estate.

It is now 26 years since Deputy Jim O'Keeffe was first made Front Bench spokesman for his party on justice matters. In the intervening period, his party has been in office for eight years, and I ask what steps he took to address the issues in Mountjoy, Cork Prison, which was developed in the 1970s and 1980s with no in-cell sanitation, and the Central Mental Hospital. What did his party do about prison officers' overtime, drug use in our prisons, or the practice of slopping out? I am aware of his ongoing interest in prison visiting committees, an area to which I have brought value-for-money reform by ending the expenses gravy train. As for his reforming zeal, I refer Deputies to a copy of his most idealistic letter on prison visiting committees, a copy of which I have made available to the Library.

I am glad Deputy Costello got time to speak in this debate. Let the record show that he organised, among his Labour Party colleagues on Dublin City Council, an effort to have Mountjoy preserved on the grounds of architectural heritage. He attempted to send in city officials to have it preserved so as to frustrate its disposal.

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