Jimmy Devins (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 83 and 144 together.

The Government decision in May 2006 to approve the development of a new national forensic mental health facility at Thornton Hall, County Dublin, also required that a cost-benefit analysis be carried out. Department of Finance guidelines require that all projects over €30 million are subject to a cost-benefit analysis. This cost-benefit analysis is currently being undertaken and is expected to be completed by the end of March.

The new hospital facility will provide a therapeutic, forensic psychiatric service to the highest international standards in a state-of–the-art building. The decision to relocate the Central Mental Hospital is consistent with A Vision for Change, the report of the expert group on mental health policy, which recommends that the Central Mental Hospital should be replaced or remodelled to allow it to provide care and treatment in a modern, up-to-date humane setting and that capacity should be maximised.

The redevelopment of the Central Mental Hospital will constitute a separate capital development project independent of the prison complex to replace Mountjoy Prison and will be owned and managed by the Health Service Executive. The new hospital will be built on its own campus and will retain its identity as a distinct therapeutic health facility with a separate entrance and address to the prison complex.

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