James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Question 245: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will make a statement on the inappropriateness of locating the Central Mental Hospital in the grounds of the proposed prison site at Thornton Hall and the negative message and connotations that such a location sends out to the patients and families of the Central Mental Hospital and the appropriateness of locating the hospital in an isolated area with very poor private transport links and no public transport links for patients' families and staff of the Central Mental Hospital. [18156/07]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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In May 2006, the Government approved the development of a new national forensic mental health facility at Thornton Hall, Co Dublin and the disposal of the site at Dundrum.

The redeveloped Central Mental Hospital will be a separate capital development project, independent of the prison complex to replace Mountjoy Prison, managed and directed by the Health Service Executive. The Health Service Executive has established a project team to progress the redevelopment of the Central Mental Hospital. The new hospital will be built on its own campus and will retain its identity as a separate, therapeutic health facility owned and managed by the Health Service Executive. The new hospital will have its own grounds with a separate entrance and address to the prison complex.