'Serious concerns' after 17 areas of non-compliance found at Central Mental Hospital

The Central Mental Hospital is the country’s only secure forensic institution and provides therapeutic detention to those found not guilty by reason of insanity and other categories of offenders. File picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

The chief mental health inspector has said the regulatory and legal breaches at the country’s state-of-the-art forensic mental hospital – opened just over two years ago – raise “serious concerns” about the operation of the facility.

The Central Mental Hospital in Portrane, north Dublin – with a construction cost of €200 million – is the country’s only secure forensic institution and provides therapeutic detention to those found not guilty by reason of insanity and other categories of offenders.