Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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423. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the plans that are in place to address the issues raised by an organisation (details supplied) in relation to persons with serious mental health problems detained in prisons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21063/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Programme for Government commits to considering the mental health and addiction treatment of persons imprisoned and primary care support on release. This commitment reflects the fact that the healthcare needs of vulnerable, sometimes seriously ill, people who interact with the criminal justice system are complex and require whole of systems consideration and urgent action.

In fulfilment of this commitment, the report and recommendations of the High Level Task Force established to consider the mental health and addiction challenges of those who come into contact with the criminal justice sector (HLTF) were published in September 2022.

Theimplementation plan published alongside the final report, assigns ownership for each of the recommendations and their expected delivery time-frames. The plan recognises that some recommendations can be achieved quickly (within the next 18 months), while others require a longer lead-in time and are accordingly categorised as medium-term (within the next 3 years) or long-term (within the next 5 years).

Let me assure the Deputy that my Department is committed to working with colleagues in the Department of Health to advance these reforms.

A Steering Committee (co-chaired by senior officials from the Department of Justice and the Department of Health) is overseeing progress on the recommendations.

In addition to the work of the High Level Task Force, the commitment to better mental health care within the criminal justice system was reflected in the provision of over €2m in additional funding under Budget 2022 for the Prison Service to improve mental health services.

The Deputy may also be aware of the Health Needs Assessment Steering Group, which was established in 2018, following a memorandum of understanding between the then Minister for Justice and Minister for Health. It has taken forward an independent review of the current and future delivery of appropriate provision of healthcare services to people in custody.

The Health Needs Assessment, both for the Irish Prison Service as a whole and for the 12 individual prisons within the Prison Service estate, commenced in November 2019 and was undertaken by independent consultants Crowe Ireland.The report is now completed and both I and Minister for Health expect to publish it shortly.

It is intended that that progress on implementation will be overseen by a Steering Committee comprising representatives from the Departments of Justice and Health, Irish Prison Service and the HSE.