The Mental Health Commission, the State's statutory watchdog for psychiatric services, has expressed concern about the Government's plans to transfer the Central Mental Hospital to a site adjacent to a new prison complex in north Dublin.
The move was also criticised yesterday by the National Disability Authority, the statutory body which advises the Government on issues regarding the disabled. It called on the Government to rethink the plan.
The chief executive of the Mental Health Commission, Ms Bríd Clarke, told The Irish Times last night that the proposed transfer "raised concerns" and that it intended making its views on the issue known to both the Department of Health and the Department of Justice.
The commission has strongly supported the replacement of the Central Mental Hospital. However it had previously urged that any new facility be designed and constructed as a hospital and "be clearly separate and apart from any prison complex".
Ms Clarke said yesterday the Government's proposals for the transfer of the Central Mental Hospital to a site adjoining the new prison complex to be developed at Thornton in north Dublin "did not allay its concerns".
She said the commission believed that the Central Mental Hospital had to remain as a hospital or therapeutic facility.
The chairwoman of the National Disability Authority, Ms Angela Kerins, said: "We all have a duty to protect the rights of people with mental health difficulties, and our concern is that the proposed location beside a new prison site is not a therapeutic environment."
The Minister of State for Health, Mr Tim O'Malley, said the new Central Mental Hospital would have a separate entrance and "be a completely different place" from the prison complex. He said he would consult various groups about the move.
