Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

My argument in that regard is that, even if that is the case and there are people to whom this could apply, one is saying to a judge that, in addition to all the other functions, he or she now also has jurisdiction to direct that someone whom one is sentencing should serve part of that sentence while receiving care in a psychiatric institution. That would require a very substantial panoply of advice and I would be tempted to say that Senator Henry's duo would certainly have to come along on that occasion and say whether they wanted to receive someone in those circumstances. On balance, it is better for the Prison Service to make decisions of that kind rather than the Judiciary. If the judge wishes to make a recommendation that someone needs psychiatric in-patient treatment and that the Prison Service should have regard to it, that is one thing, but directing that a person should be sent to such a facility while serving his or her sentence is replete with all sorts of implications that I simply cannot accept on the hoof.