Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

Last week the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform announced the decision of the Government to site a new prison complex on a site at Thorntown, County Dublin, and also to transfer the Central Mental Hospital to this site. There are many aspects of the way this was done which warrant discussion and I will return to them at a later date. However, I would like the Tánaiste to focus on what this decision says about modern society's view of mental illness.

A recent report from the mental health commission stated that people suffering from mental health difficulties experience considerable stigmatisation and suggested that priority should be given to changing public attitudes towards people living with a diagnosis of mental illness. There will be no argument from this side of the House about the need to replace the current appalling and Dickensian conditions which exist at the Central Mental Hospital. Is it necessary, however, to locate an alternative facility next to a major prison? A number of groups working with the mentally ill, including Schizophrenia Ireland and Aware, have stated that this decision will only add to the stigma and discrimination they have been fighting to end.

Does the Tánaiste agree that this decision will only further stigmatise those suffering from mental illness? Is the decision based more on economics and administrative ease than on meeting the needs of the patients of the Central Mental Hospital and tackling the stigmatisation of mental illness? Will the Tánaiste indicate when negotiations to acquire the site began and whether other stand-alone greenfield sites were considered in respect of the Central Mental Hospital?

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