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?

I agree with Deputy Kenny that we must do everything possible to remove the stigma attached to mental illness. Much of what the Government has done in recent years in terms of the establishment of the mental health commission, increased investment in the area etc., was aimed at doing precisely that. The movement of people away from institutional care and into the community is part of that approach.

There will be no link between the proposed new prison and the Central Mental Hospital. I agree there should be no link. A group was established under the auspices of Indecon some time ago which included among its members the director of nursing, the manager and the medical director of the Central Mental Hospital. It unanimously recommended that a new stand-alone facility should be acquired for the hospital. Other than the fact they will share the same 150-acre site, the two facilities will have nothing in common.

It is not easy to get the type of land that is required for the facilities, close to the centre of Dublin. Everybody recognises that. We do not have enormous amounts of land at our disposal. There will be separate entrances and addresses and no link whatever. Although from time to time some people are moved from prison to the Central Mental Hospital, there is no other link in terms of either the management or operation of the two facilities.

The OPW acquired the site. I understand that other sites were examined and a number of parties expressed interest in their land being acquired. The OPW, I believe, made its selection on the basis of value. I do not have the details for Deputy Kenny as regards the precise negotiations, but I know that a number of other sites were examined. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, informed the Cabinet of that some time ago.

We have a peculiar view in Ireland of what "adjacent" is. In the recent past there has been some public consternation over postal addresses. This appears to fly in the face of the legal responsibility of local authorities to draft county development plans, which are subject to full public discussion and negotiation. This seems to have been done in secret. On five separate occasions last October and November the Tánaiste told the House in reply to questions: "I fully agree with the families and carers who feel that it would not be desirable that the hospital be perceived as, or closely identified with, a prison complex." I agree with that statement and nothing could be clearer, yet when it comes to this decision, the Government flies in the face of the Tánaiste's own instinct and statement in this regard.

On 10 March last year, the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Tim O'Malley, let the cat out of the bag in the Irish Examiner, when he said the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform “thinks a Central Mental Hospital should be adjacent to a jail”. It is now clear that this decision was driven by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Is this to be his equivalent of the “Bertie bowl” and his legacy for the future? It is clear that this flies in the face of the report from the Human Rights Commission and the Mental Health Commission which both stated that the Central Mental Hospital should not be adjacent to a prison and that the rights of those suffering from mental illness would be undermined. Does the Tánaiste accept that the interests of the mentally ill have been let down? In view of all the reports on the stigmatisation of those suffering from mental illness, will she undertake to have the Government reconsider this decision?

I agree it should not be part of the prison complex and neither will it be. However, the worst case scenario for the residents of the Central Mental Hospital would be to leave them where they are. I understand the conditions there are very unsatisfactory for 2005. The Minister of State, Deputy Tim O'Malley, has given a commitment to meet the interested parties on this matter, and he will do that. However, the Government made the decision based on what we believed to be an appropriate facility that could be located on one large parcel of land.

Some 150 acres is a considerable parcel of land to be able to acquire so close to the capital. We decided it would be better to acquire the 150 acres, if we could get them, to provide two separate and distinct facilities in that area. There are many examples of public hospitals located close to existing prisons and no one ever suggests there is a link between them. We must be reasonable, given all the circumstances. Land in the greater Dublin area is not easy to come by. It is not just a question of economics, it is a question of trying to find an enormous parcel of land so that the Central Mental Hospital can have its own stand-alone modern state-of-the-art facility while on a different location, albeit close by, there is a modern prison. It should be possible to do that within the confines of 150 acres, with separate entrances and complexes. I cannot believe that it is impossible, given the modern engineering and architectural designs at our disposal.