Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate this matter being taken this morning. The reason I tabled it is that I have had a long involvement in supporting people with mental health issues in my constituency and on a broader basis for a number of years. I also served on the prison committee of Cloverhill Prison for almost two years. Anybody who has been a member of a prison visiting committee will know the one job one has to sign on the dotted line is to represent the welfare of prisoners. It was a difficult experience but it teaches one a great deal about life when one meets a person in a cell who is behind bars because justice has been put in place. In this particular situation we would all accept that something needs to be done rather quickly.

I acknowledge the phonecall I received from the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, last night. She would dearly like to be here today but I understand she is tied up with other issues at the moment. She has taken a keen interest in mental health issues during her period in the Oireachtas. However, it is great to have my own county man here, the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, who also has a very good understanding of this situation.

We are discussing this issue today because of an article by Conor Gallagher in The Irish Times yesterday in which he reported the inhumane treatment of a mental health patient put into Cloverhill Prison, which was highlighted by the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which found serious failings in the treatment of mentally ill prisoners, and that prisoner in particular. We all know the details of the case. They were horrifying and shocking. I read them again this morning. I also acknowledge the Irish Prison Service wants to deal with this matter very urgently. It should not be happening.

I know the Minister will agree with me that we have to stop the practice of putting mentally ill patients into prison cells and, worst than that, isolating them in a terrible way. We must consider putting in place a system within our prisons that will specifically deal with mentally ill patients where there would be a special quarter for them in which psychologists and psychiatrists can deal with them. Isolating these patients in a cell for up to two weeks, apart from handing them in a bit of food, is obscene in this day and age. If we are to treat human beings with any bit of dignity and respect we must move away from this type of carry on. This is not the only case. As was highlighted in the article in The Irish Times yesterday, there are other such cases happening.

In our constituency offices from time to time, we are contacted by families who on many occasions are struggling to cope with a mentally ill family member and find their family members are brought to court and put into prison because there is nowhere else for them to go. The man in this instance was waiting to get into the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum, for which there is a waiting list. Again, that begs the question of why we cannot provide more places in Dundrum.

I will not labour the point any further. This issue has been well flagged in recent days. I raise it in the context of being a former member of the board of Cloverhill Prison and on the basis of my involvement in many cases, some involving families who had a person put in prison because of mental illness. I hope the Minister of State's response will give us some good news. It would be the wish of everybody in this Seanad to move forward with this issue and make the changes necessary as quickly as possible.