Care, not custody for those with severe mental illness – Sherlock expresses alarm at lack of Government action.

• No Government urgency on lack of healthcare options for psychiatric patients in prisons – Cloverhill Court judge calls out lack of options.
• No Government plan to fully open Central Mental Hospital beds – one third remain unopen, four years after the new facility opened.
• Diversion not detention needs to be the basis of intervention with severely mentally ill persons who encounter law enforcement.

 

Labour Party Health Spokesperson Marie Sherlock TD has called on Government to urgently end the practice of detaining severely mentally ill people in prisons and to move to a statutory diversion system that prioritises treatment in healthcare settings.

Speaking in the Dáil during Leaders’ Questions to the Tánaiste today, Deputy Sherlock raised the findings of the recent RTÉ Investigates programmes which exposed the appalling treatment of vulnerable psychiatric patients who have come into contact with the criminal justice system.

Deputy Sherlock said:

“Families are watching loved ones with severe mental illness deteriorate in prison cells when they should be receiving specialist treatment in appropriate healthcare settings. What we are seeing is the effective warehousing of some of the most unwell people in our society. This Government has allowed a situation to develop where individuals who cannot access necessary medication or supports outside an approved centre such as the Central Mental Hospital are left on remand indefinitely, often acutely unwell and without proper care.

“We understand there is approximately 340 psychiatric patients being held in prisons across the State, with dozens of acutely psychotic people awaiting admission to the Central Mental Hospital. At the same time, one third of beds in the Central Mental Hospital remain unopened. The HSE has said it is ‘hoped’ that ten beds will open in March but could not confirm this. That is not a plan. It is not adequate. It reflects a lack of urgency that is deeply damaging.

“The Mental Health Commission has reported a 62 per cent reduction in restrictive practices such as seclusion in approved centres over six years. That progress is welcome. But the reality is that many of the most seriously ill people are now being detained in prisons instead of hospitals, and the Mental Health Commission has no oversight of prison settings. We have replaced one form of institutional detention with another. That cannot be considered reform.

“We learned today from NUIG’s Professor Charles O’ Mahony that almost fifty years ago the Henchy Report in 1978 recommended a system of diversion from the criminal justice system for those with severe mental illness. Nearly five decades later, we still do not have a comprehensive, statutory diversion framework, despite clear models in Northern Ireland and Australia.

“I raised these issues directly with the Tánaiste today. His response offered nothing new and failed to engage with the scale of the crisis. There was no clear commitment to opening all unused beds at the Central Mental Hospital, no timeline for reform, and no indication that diversion from detention will be placed on a statutory basis.

“These are life and death matters for patients, for families and for communities. Families who have experienced unimaginable loss have been clear that they want a system capable of identifying risk, ensuring communication between services, and intervening before tragedy occurs. That requires properly resourced public mental health services, not the outsourcing of complex psychiatric care to private providers at home or abroad.

“Labour is calling for the immediate opening of all unused Central Mental Hospital beds, the publication of a detailed implementation plan for the 2022 Taskforce recommendations, and the introduction of a statutory diversion system to ensure that severely mentally ill people are treated within the health system, not the prison system. Patients deserve care, dignity, and safety. This Government must act now.”