Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 127: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the alternative plans which are being considered to upgrade or replace the Central Mental Hospital following the rejection of the Thornton Hall site; if consideration is being given to keeping the facility in Dundrum; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39286/09]

John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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In May 2006 the Government confirmed the decision to develop a new Central Mental Hospital (CMH) at Thornton Hall, County Dublin. Since then, a draft project brief has been prepared and a Cost Benefit Analysis has been completed but none of the work undertaken to date has been site specific. A number of difficulties have now emerged with the Thornton Hall site; the HSE has identified a need for an Intellectual Disability Forensic Mental Health Unit and a Child and Adolescent Forensic Mental Health Unit but the twenty acre site at Thornton Hall is not large enough to allow for these additional developments. Neither of the units would be viable as a stand alone facility and they should be co-located with the CMH. Moreover, the construction of these additional units at a location separate to the CMH would incur increased capital and revenue costs. In these circumstances and in the context of the commitment in the Revised Programme for Government, the question of the relocation of the CMH to an alternative site is currently under consideration.