Mental Health Services
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-25
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Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel

I thank the Minister of State for her comprehensive statement. The reality is that there are beds that have not been opened in the facility. Some 50 beds remain empty while people remain in squalid conditions in our prisons. I accept that a lot has been achieved and I would be the first to say that. The reality is that we need to have these 50 beds. We have budgeted for it and the taxpayers have paid. The beds are in place. It is really important that we prioritise. I hear the Minister of State's point about incremental increases. I would like us to be in a position to say at the end of the year that those 50 beds have been filled.
I draw the Minister of State's attention to this article, which I will send on to her office. She may or may not have seen it on yesterday's RTÉ News website with the headline, "'No options' for psychiatric patients held in prison, judge warns". He was sitting at Cloverhill District Court in the prison. He has said he will now have to look at alternatives. It is really important. The solicitor for the HSE, Alan Doyle, is on the record as saying that ten beds would open hopefully by the end of March but was not in a position to confirm that. Could we be ambitious and say that we will have 30 beds open this year? I am not asking the Minister of State to say that now because clearly she will have to think about it and talk to the people on the ground. However, we have the facility and we have the beds. They are there; let us open them. I have no doubt that those involved in the "RTÉ Investigates" programme will be following this story here today. There is a story and it is important that we be ambitious enough to fill the 50 beds that are in place in this facility.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:41+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-25