Psychiatric units ‘can’t deal with mentally ill offenders’

PSYCHIATRIC services can’t deal with criminal offenders suffering from mental illness because of a lack of funding and staff, experts warned yesterday.

The Irish College of Psychiatrists (ICP) wants the Government to provide more money to improve access to services for such offenders before the Criminal Justice (Insanity) Bill becomes law.

One of the ICP’s main concerns is the bill’s reference to “designated centres” where mentally ill offenders can be sent for treatment. However, it does not indicate where these centres will be.