James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

I thank both the Ceann Comhairle and the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. It is unusual to have the opportunity to thank both of them simultaneously.

I have already mentioned to the Minister the antipathy to this plan from a very august group, the Central Mental Hospital Roundtable Meeting and the Mental Hospital Carers' Group. I shall mention later the participants who comprise a formidable range of bodies.

What is proposed is also against Government policy. It contradicts the principles and recommendations of A Vision for Change, the Government's agreed policy on future mental health services. It specifically contradicts the following principles:

Priority should be given to the care of individuals with severe and enduring mental illness in the least restrictive environment possible. Forensic mental health units need to be clearly identified as being intervention and rehabilitation facilities that operate in particular conditions of security rather than facilities offering mainly containment. Forensic mental health services should have a strong community focus.

The proposal as laid down, putting the hospital in an isolated rural place like Thornton Hall, flies in the face of these three principles and conditions. Furthermore, it is against best international practice. It is incompatible with best international therapeutic practice in forensic psychiatry and mental health. It is against international human rights obligations. It contravenes the principles and spirit of both the international convention on economic, social and cultural rights of the United Nations and that body's principles for the protection of persons with mental illness and for the improvement of mental health care.

In addition, there was no consultation with users and their families. The decision was made without consultation with the key stakeholders, the patients, their families and carers. I am sure that the Minister saw the programme on RTE, as I did, and heard the points made by the Schizophrenia Society of Ireland and by relatives of patients who are now in the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum.

There is an absence of a cost-benefit analysis, including an evaluation of the loss of social and intellectual capital associated with the move, should it be undertaken. We ask the Government to review its decision to relocate the Central Mental Hospital and to re-consider other options that may be available to it.

The document I have was put together by a group of people who list, in addition, others who have publicly commented on the proposed relocation of the Central Mental Hospital. These include Amnesty International's Irish section, Aware, Bodywhys, the eating disorder association of Ireland, Central Mental Hospital Carers' group, the Disability Federation of Ireland, Donncha Ó Connell, Dean of Law at NUI Galway, Fine Gael, Gheel Autism Services, the Green Party in its election manifesto 2007 — I would like to hear from that party its view on the proposal — Hale Housing Association, the Human Rights Commission, Inclusion Ireland, the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, the Inspector of Mental Health Services, the interim National Service Users Executive, the Irish Advocacy Network, the Irish Association of Social Workers, the Irish Penal Reform Trust, Dr. Harry Kennedy, the clinical director of the Central Mental Hospital, the Labour Party, the Mental Health Commission, Mental Health Ireland, Senator David Norris, the Psychiatric Nurses Association, the former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, Schizophrenia Ireland, Sinn Féin, Dr. Charles Smith, former director of the mental hospitals, and Teenline Ireland.

This long list of august groups have serious concerns about this issue. In addition, and not mentioned in that report, are other issues that Fine Gael and I have with this proposal. Are immigrants now to be put on the same site and also stigmatised? Will their first experience in the country be a placement on the same site as a criminal institution?

The Minister may not need planning permission from Fingal County Council for this prison but he will need it for the relocated hospital from Dundrum. I am happy to say that, to my knowledge, none of the 24 councillors on Fingal County Council will back this move and grant such planning permission. At least the councillors, which include members of Government parties, can see that this is a retrograde step in terms of care of the mentally ill in our society.

Much of the key skill set that has evolved over 100 years in Dundrum will be lost. Many of the people who work there will not wish to work in a rural setting on the far side of Dublin, with the associated travel and expense to them personally. We will lose key workers if the Minister persists in moving the Central Mental Hospital to this site. It appears to me that, yet again, the Government is more concerned about saving money and face rather than looking after patients.

I know the Minister has a reputation for being a hard man, one who is not afraid to take hard decisions. I ask him, however, in this instance to make sure that the decision he is about to take is modified so that it does not cause hardship, as it surely will, to those who have mental illness in this country. I ask him to reconsider the situation, particularly as it refers to the relocation of the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum. I further question the wisdom and financial sense of closing a women's prison, a modern facility built only 15 years ago, which has all the benefits of being the centre of the city, allowing for visiting. Women very often have children and they need to be accessible to them. Surely that need is better served by their being in town rather than in a rural setting.

I ask the Minister, once again, to try to see this matter from a perspective other than a fiscal-property one and to think about the implications for the mentally ill, adolescents and, in particular, women.

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