Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Craughwell on the point he raised. The Irish soldiers at Jadotville were treated very shabbily and victims of a type of conspiracy to defame and belittle them and make them feel like cowards when they were precisely the opposite. Ireland must collectively make amends to those who remain and the memory of those who have passed on.

Following on from Senator Mullen's point about mental health services, I emphasise a particular issue, the large number of prisoners in Ireland who are psychiatrically ill. The current arrangements in prisons, both physical and organisational, are very poor in that regard. Prisoners with psychiatric problems must remain in the institution in which they are incarcerated in circumstances that are unsuitable for the treatment of such illness. When I was Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, one of the things that shocked me most was the padded cell system then operating in prisons. The cells were approximately 5 ft by 5 ft, dark with only a little pink light at the top, rubber padding all around and a rubber mat on the floor and a plastic pot in which the semi-naked prisoners had to urinate. We replaced those cells with observational units that were well lit, with supervised windows through which the detainee could be in communication with others. However, the problem remains that the Central Mental Hospital is not carrying out the requisite functions to treat prisoners who are suffering from psychiatric illness during the course of their sentence. In fact, nothing other than the minimum psychiatric help is being afforded to those individuals.

It was and remains my ambition that the Thornton Hall campus should have a proper mental health facility for prisoners. I expect that facility to be built eventually because it will not be done in Mountjoy Prison. As such, the latter should close, as I have no doubt that it will do in due course. Will the Deputy Leader call on the Minister for Justice and Equality to set aside time to come to the House to outline his plans to improve psychiatric services in the prison system? The system is bound to be a failure if it leaves prisoners to complete their sentences untreated. Such an approach must be self-defeating. Apart from simply morality, it is absolutely wrong from a prudential viewpoint that prisoners who need psychiatric treatment are not receiving it. We need a debate with the Minister on his plans to ensure the psychiatric services offered by hospitals to prisoners are adequate and an admission finally that it is a pretence that the Central Mental Hospital is discharging this function.