Committee to discuss relocation of mental hospital

The Junior Health Minister is due before the Oireachtas health committee today to discuss the proposed relocation of the Central Mental Hospital to the site of a proposed new "super-prison" in north Dublin.

Patient organisations and lobby groups are opposed to the plan, claiming it will criminalise people with mental health problems.

The Government is planning to relocate the mental hospital to a separate site alongside the proposed new prison at Thornton Hall.

The Irish Mental Health Coalition says a new hospital is needed, but that the site at Thornton Hall is not where it should be located.