Two weeks ago, "RTÉ Investigates" aired two programmes on the appalling treatment of some of the most vulnerable and seriously mentally ill persons in this country. It made for harrowing viewing. It is unconscionable that the State effectively condemns mentally ill persons who come into contact with the law to indefinite remand, without access to the appropriate medication or treatment, and all because of the lack of appropriate care in the community. In the wake of these revelations about the state of our adult psychiatric services and the reliance on our prison system to deal with and treat these people, what is the Government response? To be honest, I have heard no urgency nor any update by way of response to what is a scandal of this State. In the words of Professor Charles O'Mahony, who contributed to the programme, Ireland is effectively using the Prison Service to warehouse people with severe mental illness. Our country has replaced one form of detention in psychiatric institutions for many decades with another, the prison system. That is wrong.

There are around 340 psychiatric patients being held in prisons across this country, with dozens of acutely psychotic people waiting for admission to the Central Mental Hospital. We know that one third of the beds in the Central Mental Hospital remain unopened. We heard just this week from the HSE that it hopes that ten beds will open by March but it could not be confirmed.

A high-level task force report on mental health and addiction from 2022 contains some really good recommendations but there was no progress report last year, which is the year some of those recommendations were supposed to be implemented. It seems when it comes to the crunch there is little or no action.

We all know this system did not emerge today or yesterday. It emerged over many decades. We now need a complete change of approach. We need to move away from using detention as a tool of control. Last year, the Mental Health Commission said there had been 62% reduction in the use of seclusion practices and restriction practices in psychiatric institutions. That is great but the reality is that many of those people are now being held in our prison system. We need to move away from a system where the only access to mental health supports is through the prison system. Conor Ryan from "RTÉ Investigates" told the story from Cloverhill Prison of how people were being refused access to psychiatric units within our hospitals and only finding that help within the prison system. We need to move to a system of diversion. Recommendations in the Henchy report are now 50 years old but have not been implemented by the State.

These are life and death issues, not just for the patients but also for their families. In recent weeks, I spoke to the family of Maud Coffey, who lost their sister two years ago, and to the family of Natalie McGuinness. The thread is very clear. There is a lack of joined-up thinking between mental health services and a lack of communication with families and, ultimately, people are losing their lives.

What is the Government's response to this horrendous situation of using the prison system to effectively treat and detain people who are seriously mentally ill? Will the Government proceed with a programme for Government commitment to build approved health centres within the prison system? To be frank, that is the completely wrong approach. Will the Government prioritise diversion over detention for seriously mentally ill people in this country and place diversion on a statutory framework?

I thank Deputy Sherlock for raising this very important, sensitive and real issue in our country, our prisons and in relation to our mental health services. It is something that I know is having a real and painful impact and is a worry for many families in our country too. I join with the many who have already thanked those who spoke on the recent "RTÉ Investigates" programme on the forensic mental health services for sharing their lived experiences and giving voice to issues that should not be seen or debated in this House as abstractions. While I am not a clinician, the responsibility of the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health and all of us in the Government must be to maintain public confidence in an essential service for a highly vulnerable group of patients - I use the word "patients" because that is what they are - and the dedicated staff who care for them. I spoke to the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, recently on this. She has asked the HSE for full reports on the cases highlighted in the programme, particularly those involving the Central Mental Hospital. I just want to make that point. The Minister of State has also asked that all appropriate care options for the individuals featured be examined.

There are actions under way to try to improve this situation. I know it is a statement of fact but it is important to remind us all that the Central Mental Hospital is just that; it is a hospital. Its purpose is and must be to provide treatment to support rehabilitation but also to have a carefully, safe, managed environment to help people return to the community where possible. We have seen demand for forensic mental health services grow in recent years and we have seen the opening of the new CMH at Portrane. That was an important moment. It saw the transfer of over 90 patients from an old, outdated, really inappropriate building in the Dundrum facility to a new hospital that has been recognised as one of the best forensic mental health hospitals in Europe. However, we need to open more beds in it. We have 114 operational beds at CMH. That is an increase of 20% on the former hospital. Additional funding has been secured to open the remaining 16 beds and recruiting staff is the key priority here. There is a need for very specialised staff in some of these settings, as the Deputy will be aware. An additional €2.8 million was provided in budget 2026 to open what they call the new ICRU which will bring beds into use that will support smoother patient movement through the Portrane campus and will also create further space.

On our prisons specifically, we already have two psychiatric intensive care units at Carraig Mór centre in Cork and the Phoenix care centre in Dublin, and we are also now providing psychiatric in-reach services to ten of our country's 12 prisons, assessing and treating prisoners with moderate to severe mental illness. Additional funding has also been provided to extend this service to Limerick Prison and we are very eager to progress with that as quickly as possible.

There is a programme for Government commitment. I think the Deputy has a different point of view on health and the Prison Service but the view was here that there was a need to provide within the Prison Service for people who require imprisonment to meet their mental health needs, separate and distinct from the health needs that could be provided in the hospital.

Everything the Tánaiste has said is nothing new in that it is already contained within the service plan for the HSE for this year or last year. The reality is that there has been no response to the appalling revelations. I am shocked, as I hope other people are as well, but we are not hearing that urgency from Government. The reality is that not every bed within the Central Mental Hospital will be open by the end of this year and there is no plan to open every single bed. That is absolutely wrong. The reality is that the State has failed to invest over many years. Last year, €95 million was spent on exporting some of our most seriously ill patients to the UK - a 20% increase last year - all because of the failure to build here. This is the week in which we see an actual cut in the HSE capital plan this year compared to last year. There is a lack of a plan and a lack of action on the part of this Government with regard to mental health services. For years, we have had soothing words that there was going to be an increase in support. The reality is that mental health is the poor relation of the health service, and that needs to change.

I take the Deputy's point and I accept her bone fides in relation to this but this is an issue Government is taking extraordinarily seriously. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is taking a very hands-on leadership approach to this area. I thank her for that. She has the support of all of us in government. On the specific, very worrying and concerning revelations in the "RTÉ Investigates" programme, the Minister has sought a full report from the HSE on each of the experiences and cases highlighted in that programme. I know she is very eager to get that report and is very eager to be able to work through any such report on a response to the issues. Objectively and fairly, the decision we took to invest in, and now open, a brand new, state-of-the-art Central Mental Hospital, deemed one of the best forensic mental heath hospitals in Europe, is a major step forward in forensic mental health services in this country. If you had all the money and all the staff in the world, you would still open that hospital on a phased basis to get it right and to do it in a very orderly way considering the complexity of care that is required. We have seen that. Ninety three patients have been successfully moved, capacity has been increased to 114 and there is now a process to continue to open all of the beds. More broadly, should there be an ability of the mental health services to spend more capital the Government will provide that funding.

Let us be very clear. It is not the Opposition that made the claim that the rental income of IRES REIT is going to go up by 25% as a result of the changes the Government has made. It was IRES REIT that made that claim. Does the Tánaiste accept that? His only defence seems to be that not every renter will be affected immediately. Does he not realise that a 25% increase in someone's rent, whether it is this year, next year or the year after, is completely unmanageable for the vast bulk of renters? How does the Government think people are going to be able to pay this increase? Does it not understand that people are already struggling to make ends meet and to pay their Bills? The Government admitted this week it got it completely wrong on SNAs. Will it admit it has got it completely wrong in terms of these changes that are a gift to corporate landlords?

To put this in context, IRES REIT made a profit of almost €50 million last year. Does the Tánaiste not understand that the changes are going to cause even more hardship for renters and for families, putting them under more pressure? Does he not understand it will push more and more people into homelessness, that we already have record homelessness, including a record number of homeless children, and, shamefully, a record number of homeless pensioners? This is going to make it even worse. Beidh níos mó agus níos mó daoine gan teach.

Earlier this week, the State's biggest landlord, IRES REIT, about which we are talking, announced it was going to buy up an entire apartment block in Naas. This block with 77 apartments was already under construction. IRES REIT is not building anything new or increasing supply. Individuals and families who were hoping to buy one of these apartments and homes when the construction was completed are now being left disappointed. It is doing this because of Government policy. Government refused to ban corporate landlords and investment funds from bulk-buying apartments. Now, by letting rents rip it has opened the flood gates. These corporate landlords are going to snap up more and more homes. People work so hard to support their families and to get a place of their own. Instead of saving to buy a home, they are now handing over their wages to these giant landlords.

Is the Tánaiste so blinded by his craven ideology of giving these corporate landlords whatever they want and ask for that he cannot see the damage he is doing? Renters in Ireland who are already paying some of the highest rents in Europe are now going to be fleeced even more. The Government admitted it got it completely wrong on SNAs. Will the Tánaiste now admit it has got it completely wrong on letting rents rip and reverse its decision on this?

I have never been accused of having a craven ideology before. Our only policy objective in this coalition Government is to make sure we build more homes for our people to buy and rent and to make sure we deliver supply. Without properties, apartments and homes to buy or rent, every conversation we have in this House is interesting but academic. It is interesting but abstract if we do not build enough homes. The Housing Commission, which I am sure did not have any ideology either, as it had lots of different perspectives and backgrounds, said very clearly that there was a need for private investment in terms of getting to the supply. I make the point respectfully that it is surely not the Deputy's position that the only people who should be building apartments should be the State. Surely we see the benefit in private investment alongside an unparalleled level of State investment in housing. We are investing more than most European countries in housing supply, yet we know, as do the Housing Commission and everybody who has looked, that in and of itself will not be enough. It will not be enough to fix the housing emergency unless we also attract in others to add private investment funds. If we talk of ideology, we should be very careful we do not demonise that. We need a diversity of supply. We also need lots of different types of building and construction under way.

I hope the Deputy would accept the points I have made in this House that the comments this morning on national radio regarding the 25% clarify there was never a position that was going to be in a year or, indeed, in two or three years. That was apparently a projection, according to the comment on the radio this morning, over ten years. I am not saying anyone did it intentionally but it has been done in such a manner that has caused fear and worry. Nobody is suggesting market rents are going to be reset at 25%; not the investment fund the Deputy quoted. That investment fund has clarified that this morning. It is important we make that point too.

I have acknowledged, because it is the truth, that from March it will be possible for new tenancies to have rents set to market rate. I have also said, and it is only fair the Opposition also says this, that along side that there is a protection for the renter that is not there today, in that their tenancy is secure for six years and their rent cannot be adjusted beyond inflation capped at 2% for the next six years. That is a significant protection for people who rent a property. They know they are there for six years, there is an effective no-fault eviction ban in place and their rent is effectively capped at no more than a 2% increase per year.

That is a significant package of changes. Yes, there are comments from all sides of the debate - the left, the right and everywhere - about how we could have done this or done that. Lots of different people have a different perspective. The Government has tried to arrive at a balanced point of view here, one that drives more people to invest because, by God, we need it - we need more homes and apartments built in this country - but also one that, alongside that, puts in place a very ambitious, comprehensive set of protections for renters that have not existed in this country before and have been warmly welcomed by many, including those in the UCD school of social policy.

Mick Byrne of the UCD school of social policy, whom the Tánaiste has been quoting, said that what the Government is doing is effectively removing rent regulation. The Tánaiste has been selectively quoting what he has been saying on this.

As has Deputy O'Callaghan.

IRES REIT has been very clear in what it has said on this. It has said it believes its rents are currently about 20% below what it believes should be the market levels and it has said these changes will result in its rental income going up by about 25%. The Tánaiste has not addressed that. Simply saying that not every renter will face this straight away and, when they do face it, the rent can only go up by 2% every year for a few years does not address it. When it balloons by such an amount, how will people be able to cope with that?

Does the Tánaiste not understand that if people are already put to the pin of their collar in terms of paying rent and their rent jumps by 20% or 25%, that will push more families, pensioners and children into homelessness? Does the Tánaiste not understand that? How will people paying extortionate rents be able to face those kinds of increases? What will they do? Will the Tánaiste reverse his decision?

I patronisingly get asked by the Opposition whether I do not understand, but does the Opposition not understand that we have to increase supply? We have to increase supply. I never hear from the Opposition, beyond more State investment - which we are doing - what policy lever the Opposition would pull to encourage more people to build more apartments. The people who vote for them and those who vote for me-----

Cut VAT.

What about the State investment scheme?

We have very significant levels of State investment. We have a Land Development Agency-----

Why is there not more? The Government is bringing in investment funds.

Maybe the Social Democrats will give Deputy Hearne a go at Leaders' Questions one day. We are investing more than ever in housing. We are investing more than most European countries - genuinely.

None of that justifies a 20% increase in rent.

However, there is a need and it is not just my view and it is certainly not my craven ideology; it is the view of the Housing Commission-----

It never said to increase rents by 25%. When did it say to do that?

No, it said to get in private investment. There is no Government policy to do that.

It is to increase rent.

The Government's policy is to stimulate private investment-----

By throwing renters under the bus?

-----but alongside that put in place a package that the Opposition is refusing to acknowledge because it does not work for their social media clips.

This is about social media, is it?

There will be an effective no-fault eviction ban. The Opposition will put up a selective clip that will put the fear of God in people in relation to rent but it will not tell them about the no-fault eviction ban.

What the Government is doing is putting the fear of God into people.

It will not tell them about nationwide renters' protections. It will not tell them that, actually, the sound bites delivered in here yesterday were dispelled on national radio today. Let us be fair on this sensitive issue. Let us actually bring forward ideas in relation to this. We are bringing forward a balanced package to stimulate supply and protect renters.