Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for speaking about the CAST project. We often hear about game-changers on the floor of this Dáil but this project is a game-changer. For the many who do not know about it, it involves incidents to which the Garda is alerted and the persons involved might have enduring mental health conditions, for example, they might be psychotic. What it means is that the consultant psychiatrist or the advanced nurse practitioner with mental health training travels in the vehicle with the gardaí, and when it is safe to do so, the mental health intervention is made. We have every intention of continuing this pilot. I saw a preliminary report earlier this year. The results were outstanding. The Garda and the Ministers for Health and justice are very supportive of it. The regional executive officer, REO, in the Limerick area is fully supportive of it as well. I visited it recently and spoke to the superintendent as well. We will be rolling it out. The Minister for justice has said that he wants to see it being mainstreamed across the country.

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