New Merlin Park unit may hold serious offenders
A new unit to be provided on the grounds of Merlin Park Hospital may accommodate serious offenders previously held at the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum, Dublin.
The idea of the facility was mooted about 18 months ago but it could take a step closer to becoming a reality as part of a plan to replace the Dundrum hospital with a new building on a green site in North Dublin, with many patients to be relocated to the regions.
There are plans to develop the secure intensive care rehab unit (ICRU) on the grounds of Merlin Park which would cater for acute mental health patients – and possibly former patients of Dundrum.
In the HSE’s Vision for Change policy document, there is a strategic move away from the old model of mental health custodial care and towards a modern, holistic community-based service.
However, there will always be a need for acute inpatient beds and the HSE has promised, as part of the policy, to maintain 35 acute inpatient beds in Galway city.
Mayor of Galway, Councillor Pádraig Conneely – who is also Chairman of the HSE West Regional Forum – confirmed that plans to provide an ICRU on the grounds of Merlin Park are under consideration, but that no decision has been taken yet.
The Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) also confirmed it is aware of such plans – it said that former Regional Director of HSE West, John Hennessy, was on record as saying that it would be built within the next three years.
Separately, Galway may also be the location for one of four regional mental forensic units to be built around the country as part of the reconfiguration of services currently provided at the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum – this national facility provides treatment under conditions of special security for mentally disordered individuals who present with dangerous, violent or criminal propensities. Among them are serious sex offenders and murderers.
Noel Giblin, National Secretary of the PNA said: “From what I know, the ICRU centre is to be located in Galway, but there is a plan also to provide four regional forensic units around the country to regionalise the services already provided by Dundrum, though those locations have not yet been made public.”
For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.