Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 84: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she has reconsidered the decision to move the Central Mental Hospital to Thornton Hall in view of the opposition to such a move; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42457/08]

John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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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. The decision was taken in light of the recommendation of the Project Team, that the hospital be relocated to a new purpose built facility in the greater Dublin area, and with regard to the lack of appropriate alternative sites in the Dublin area. The Project Team to progress the re-development of the Central Mental Hospital (CMH) was established in 2003 by the then Minister for Health and Children, and comprised a broad range of stakeholders including the Department of Health and Children, the Health Boards, the National Development Finance Agency, the Irish Prison Service, the Clinical Director and other staff of the CMH, and was chaired by the then East Coast Area Health Board.

While I am aware that concerns have now arisen regarding the proximity of the hospital to the prison, the position is that the redevelopment of the CMH will constitute a separate capital development project, independent of the prison complex to replace Mountjoy, and will be owned and managed by the Health Service Executive. The new hospital will be built on its own campus and will retain its identity as a distinct therapeutic health facility with a separate entrance and address to the prison complex. The new hospital facility will provide a therapeutic, forensic psychiatric service to the highest international standards, in a modern, purpose built building.

The decision to relocate the hospital is consistent with "A Vision for Change" — the report of the Expert Group on Mental Health Policy, which recommends that the CMH should be replaced or remodelled to allow it to provide care and treatment in a modern, up-to-date humane setting and that capacity should be maximised. In the circumstances there are no proposals to revisit the Government Decision of May 2006.