Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

As many Members will have read during the week, he is on trial in Lesbos for his humanitarian work. Seán was in the same year as me in college. He is 27 years of age. We spoke in the Chamber recently on legislation concerning the need to carve out humanitarian work and have it as an exemption rather than as a defence. This is the type of case that proves this point. Seán is now in Lesbos on trial for humanitarian work but trying to take people out of crisis and away from war.

I also wish to speak briefly on access to mental health services for people in the criminal justice system and the report that came out this week. When I read it I was reminded of a piece of research that I was involved in a few years back with Dr. Fiona O’Reilly on the state of mental health of people in our homeless system. A phrase which Dr. O’Reilly used in that context rang true for me when I read this report, which is that the streets have become our asylums. We close down, or say that we close down, institutions for mental health but we just changed what those institutions were. The institutions became the streets and have ultimately become our prison walls. This week's report, Access to Mental Health Services for People in the Criminal Justice System, which was written by Dr. Susan Finnerty, reveals some very stark issues in respect of how we treat people with mental health issues and how we divert them from the prison system. Many of their crimes happen while undergoing an episode of mental health difficulty. Can we uncouple those issues when we deal with people? Crime is crime, but what about the intention of someone when the crime is being carried out? If it is due to a mental health issue, we need to find ways to help and support people adequately and in the right way.

The report states that a prisoner in Cloverhill Prison was found lying on a mattress on the floor in a cell. He was severely mentally ill, and was refusing food, drink and medication. The report refers to an area within Mountjoy Prison that was staffed by prison officers with a special interest in mentally unwell prisoners. The in-reach team provides a comprehensive mental health service in deciding who is admitted or discharged from the unit. Prisoners with mental health issues told inspectors that they prefer to be in the unit than in the general prison. The inspectors visited the women’s prison when three fairly mentally ill women were there. I worked many years ago in a hostel with women who had been released from the Dóchas Centre. This hostel was only for women being released from prison. I can tell the House, obviously without presenting accurate statistics, that it felt like nine out of every ten of those women were experiencing mental health issues in some shape or form when they came to the hostel after being in prison.

On the National Forensic Mental Health Service, the report points out that there are about 4,000 people in prison in Ireland and that 10,000 people a year are passing through those 4,000 places. Obviously, there are no places for people who need extra care and have complex needs. I am beginning a new programme in the new year. I will be working with prisoners who are currently in the prison system. I hope they will come to work with me on their one-day temporary release while they get ready for reintegration. This is an area that we will be looking to reform. There are many people with undiagnosed mental health issues in the prison system who will never make it into these statistics because they are not diagnosed. I hope we may be able to feed into this. Perhaps we will have a debate in the new year when I will have these prisoners - I would prefer to call them people who are in prison - feeding into the policy so that hopefully we can create change.