Minister wants pilot of garda-HSE response team in Limerick rolled out nationwide

The Community Access Support Team provides prevention, intervention, and outreach services to people with apparent or confirmed mental health issues brought to the attention of gardaí

Jim O’Callaghan said he had recently visited the CAST project and was very impressed by how it worked. File photo: Leon Farrell/Rollingnews.ie

Justice minister Jim O’Callaghan has said a pilot garda-HSE response team in Limerick should be copied around the country.

The initiative brings psychiatric nurses, social workers, and frontline gardaí physically together in Henry Street garda station from where they provide prevention, intervention, and outreach services.

They target people with apparent or confirmed mental health issues who are brought to the attention of gardaí, because of their behaviour or obvious distress and where they are potentially a risk to themselves and/or other people.

Last May, the Irish Examiner reported that the ground-breaking project had almost 200 interactions with people since it formally started in January.

Minister of state for mental health, Mary Butler, said local assessments suggested that an estimated 80% of those interactions had a “major impact” on the people in crisis.

The Community Access Support Team (CAST) was due to start over two-and-a-half years ago but was hampered by staffing issues.

At the Oireachtas Justice Committee this week, Mr O’Callaghan said he had recently visited the project and was very impressed by how it worked.

“The CAST project I saw in Limerick, we need to roll that out across the country,” he said. “It’s between the gardaí and the HSE and if a person is identified being in trouble or having emotional issues leading to gardaí being called, the intervention is through the gardaí and the HSE.”

Limerick Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan welcomed the minister’s comments and described CAST as providing an “excellent and much-needed” service.

But he pointed out it was still a pilot that “needs to be retained” but that it needed a dedicated budget: “It needs to be supported from additional funds – not existing HSE and garda funds.” 

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

The Department of Justice said the estimated costs for An Garda Síochána for the pilot for a year was €282,200.

CAST is a partnership between An Garda Síochána and the Mental Health Services HSE Mid-West.

The team is comprised of a clinical nurse specialist, a social care worker (awaited), a social care practitioner, a sergeant and two gardaí.

Earlier this month, Assistant Commissioner Paula Hilman told the Oireachtas Health Committee that “over 40” people avoid arrest or detention by offering support services – and none needed to go to the emergency department.

She said CAST there was "a need for a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week service.”