Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

While I fully agree with the Senator that it is desirable that visiting should be facilitated, I cannot accept the amendment because the term "relevant designated centre" would mean the designated centre at the appropriate level of security for the part of the country where the patient ordinarily resides or the Central Mental Hospital. That means one could not be sent to an institution with the appropriate level of security or the Central Mental Hospital if it was not local. It would be unwise to introduce such a constraint into the system. However, I fully agree patients should be able to receive visits. Distance is not the predominant factor in the non-visiting of patients. There are other more dominant factors.