Pat Moylan (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Michael Finneran, to the House, congratulate him on his appointment and wish him well. It is great to see those who have served in this House move to high office. I call Senator Ivor Callely.

Ivor Callely (Fianna Fail)
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I, too, congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Finneran, on his appointment and wish him well. I thank the Cathaoirleach for affording me the opportunity to raise the issue of the proposals for the Central Mental Hospital. This matter was brought to my attention by the parent of a patient — I use the word patient, not prisoner — of the Central Mental Hospital. It was suggested that the proposal to move the hospital will have implications for patients currently in the care of health professionals working under the aegis of the Department of Health and Children. This parent, rightly, put a strong, plausible, understanding case to me with the reasons she does not want her son to be ensconced in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform or the prison system. The patient in question has particular difficulties that are recognised by the State and appropriately treated by staff in the Central Mental Hospital.

I have visited the Central Mental Hospital on several occasions in my capacity as a member of the Eastern Health Board and the Eastern Regional Health Authority. My understanding is that while the Central Mental Hospital is owned by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the Departments of Health and Children and Education and Science have an interest in part of the land there too. I further understand the HSE deliver a number of services on campus. While I am not familiar with the view of the new Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform on the proposals for Thornton Hall, I understand the current plans represent departmental policy and I assume the new Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, will continue to pursue this policy.

While the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform may be moving to Thornton Hall, surely it is appropriate that the Minister would take the opportunity revisit the proposal if it involves moving people who avail of a service from another Department, whether that service is provided by the Department of Health and Children, the Department of Education and Science or the Health Service Executive? If such an outcome were to result from the proposals, I support the view put to me by a group of parents — including one of my constituents, whose name I will not mention at this stage — concerned about the proposal. Their view is these patients should not be moved. Will the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Finneran, ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to revisit the proposal, so that parents of such patients need not spend their energy lobbying politicians? While the case brought to my attention involved the Department of Health and Children, equally if there are people in receipt of a service from the Department of Education and Science or the Health Service Executive that are not deemed to be prisoners, such patients should not be moved either.

When the lady from Clontarf, in my constituency, brought this issue to my attention she was concerned and visibly upset that her son was going to be transferred to a prison site. I am au fait and aware of the tremendous work, the sizable commitment and the challenges facing those working in the Central Mental Hospital as I have previously visited the site when I was a member of the Eastern Health Board. The work there is challenging and difficult.

I look forward to the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Finneran's response, although I do not wish to put him on the spot, as he was only appointed in the past 24 hours. Equally, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is relatively new to the brief, but I suggest it might be opportune to revisit the proposal, especially if it is deemed to be inappropriate. The information available to me suggests that it would be inappropriate to move such people to a prison site.

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach and Senator Ivor Callely for their kind words on my elevation to the position of Minister of State. I take this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney.

I thank the Senator for raising this matter as it provides me with an opportunity to outline to the Seanad the plans for the re-development of the Central Mental Hospital. In May 2006, the Government approved the development of a new national forensic mental health facility at Thornton Hall, County Dublin. This decision was consistent with a recommendation outlined in A Vision for Change, the report of the expert group on mental health policy which recommended that the Central Mental Hospital should be replaced or remodelled to allow it to provide care and treatment in a modern, up-to-date, humane setting and the capacity of the Central Mental Hospital should be maximised. The cost of developing the new hospital will be met from the proceeds of the sale of the existing site of the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum. The Health Service Executive has established a project team to progress the redevelopment of the Central Mental Hospital. A project brief is being developed and a cost benefit analysis of the project is close to completion. The new hospital will be a separate capital project, independent of the prison complex. It will be managed and directed by the Health Service Executive with a new governance structure that remains distinct from the prison. The new hospital will be built on its own campus and will retain its identity as a separate, therapeutic health facility. It will have a separate entrance and a different address to the prison complex.

The decision to redevelop the Central Mental Hospital is a major step forward in the provision of quality care to prisoners with mental illness. There has been little or no structural change to the existing hospital since it opened in 1850. With the exception of a small, single-storey block built some 20 years ago it remains essentially unchanged since it was built. Many of the elements of the building are unsuitable to the provision of a modern, therapeutic, forensic mental health service. Like other unsuitable older psychiatric hospitals, the closure of the existing facility in Dundrum is the correct decision. The Central Mental Hospital is the only centre in the State that provides treatment for mental illness in conditions of medium and maximum security. The majority of admissions to the Central Mental Hospital are from within the Prison Service.

Conditions within the Central Mental Hospital have improved in recent years with increased staffing and an end to the practice of slopping out. Important safeguards for patients have been introduced by the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006 and the Mental Health Act 2001. However, the fact remains that the existing hospital facility must be replaced. The report of the Inspector of Mental Health Services stated that the building at the current site is unsuitable for providing an inpatient service. Members of the Council of Europe Committee on the Prevention of Torture who visited the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum in 2007 were also critical of facilities.

Building a new hospital on a new site will open up a range of opportunities for the provision of modern treatment and recreational facilities. A purpose-built, modern facility, coupled with the required staffing, will offer the best treatment to people requiring forensic mental health services. I will bring the views of the Senator to the attention of the Minister for Health and Children when I meet her next.