Dáil debates
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Prison Building Programme: Motion (Resumed)
that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform has caused the documents specified in section 26(2) of the Prisons Act 2007 (No. 10 of 2007) relating to the development of a prison to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas together with a document containing the observations of that Minister on the environmental impact assessment and the report of the rapporteur;
(i) the erection of a 3 metre high timber fence on the outer boundary of the car park areas on the west side of the site (marked B on the map placed by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in the Oireachtas Library on 14 May 2008), the re-design and adjustment of the car park, the lowering of the level of the car park at the boundary by approximately 1.5 metres and the imposition of a height limit for lighting fixtures in such car parks so that all the lighting fixtures shall be less than 3 metres in height off the ground;
(ii) the widening of planting areas at the places marked A on the map placed by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in the Oireachtas Library on the 14 May 2008 by not less than 4 metres, the planting, where appropriate, of larger, mature trees and the relocating of the wall further from the boundary by a similar distance not to exceed 10 metres to accommodate the widened planted area;
(iii) the mitigation of potential impact from traffic by the development of a new access road diverting construction and operational traffic away from the road classified by the Minister for Transport as a regional road and assigned the number R130 in the Roads Act 1993 (Classification of Regional Roads) Order 2006 (S.I. No. 188 of 2006), the town of Coolquay in the County of Fingal and the Francis Taylor National School at Kilcoskan in the County of Fingal and the provision of a regular dedicated bus service, related to demand, linking the city of Dublin to the site of the proposed prison;
(i) give priority to the construction of an access route from the road classified by the Minister for Transport as a regional road and assigned the number R135 in the Roads Act 1993 (Classification of Regional Roads) Order 2006 (S.I. No. 188 of 2006) to the main site at Thornton Hall and that route will be used as the sole access route for all heavy construction traffic for the development; and
(e) that construction shall not commence until a Construction Environmental Management Plan has been drawn up by the primary contractor, approved of by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and implemented in keeping with best practice and in particular the construction phase mitigation and other measures specified in sections 7.5, 8.7.1, 9.6.1, 10.5.1, 11.5.1, 12.6, 13.5 and 15.5 of the Environmental Impact Assessment shall be adhered to by the body or bodies contractually responsible for the construction of the development including any subcontractors;
that, recognising the existence of a new women's prison, Dóchas, the need for women to be held in a completely separate facility from men and held within easy access of visiting families and children to ensure community and generational continuity and support, women shall not be held in the facility at Thornton Hall;
6:00 pm
James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Whip for that.
I have before me Patients not Prisoners, a report on the Central Mental Hospital round table meeting on 30 January 2008. I intend to read why it is opposed to the Central Mental Hospital being located adjacent to a prison. This is something I spoke out about even during the last general election. It is wrong, retrograde, impinges on people's rights and stigmatises people with mental illness. God knows mental health has been the Cinderella of the health service in Ireland for generations and continues to be so.
Only recently we have seen the allocation of funds for A Vision for Change being reallocated to other areas of activity in the HSE and people with mental health put to the back of the queue again. Similarly, the co-located hospital at Beaumont, a private initiative involving the Government, was to be put on the site of the psychiatric outpatients' facility for Dublin north. The facility, which got planning permission in 2004, was put out to tender in 2005, and now it has been put to the back of the queue. This is an opportunity for the Minister and his Government to give a different message to people with mental illness.
The report is opposed to the move of the Central Mental Hospital adjacent to prison site on the following grounds:
1. It will impede rehabilitation: The rural location and lack of community of Thornton Hall will act against the reintegration and rehabilitation of patients into society and the workforce. Recovering patients will not have the easy access to education, training and social facilities that are so readily available from the Dundrum site.
2. Increased stigmatisation of the mentally ill: The physical location of the proposed new Central Mental Hospital on the site of the new prison will inevitably and irretrievably associate those with severe and enduring mental illness with criminality. Those using the hospital are patients, not prisoners.
3. Social isolation: The proposed move to a site in Thornton Hall will serve to isolate the Central Mental Hospital from a community environment. The Dundrum setting has enabled the patients to integrate slowly and safely into the community by providing a friendly and welcoming environment in which to shop and avail of local facilities on a daily basis. Dundrum village has grown up around the hospital. It is part of the community. The proposed new site is in a rural setting with a dispersed population and is not well serviced by public transport.