Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

The Mental Health Commission is the mental health equivalent of the Health Information and Quality Authority. On foot of serious concerns the commission had expressed about St. Ita's Hospital, a number of residents of the facility were transferred to St. Vincent's Hospital, Fairview, as part of a temporary arrangement.

As the new mental health unit at Beaumont Hospital is an acute facility under licence from the Mental Health Commission, it must fulfil the staffing obligations laid down in the Mental Health Act. Staff levels at the unit must correspond with the level determined by the commission. We should not have any concerns in that respect.

The Government cannot ignore an instruction from the Mental Health Commission. For this reason, the project is proceeding and by the summer of 2013, it will be built, equipped and accessible to those for whom it has been specifically designed. The safeguard we have in this respect is that we must respond to demands made by the commission.

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