Overview
- RTÉ Investigates revealed Stephen Loughnane has been kept in uninterrupted seclusion for nearly five years across prison and hospital settings, with a recent temporary move to a larger isolation unit.
- In Portrane, seclusion incidents rose to 82 in 2024 from 69 in 2023, and HSE data recorded a single uninterrupted episode lasting 20,880 hours that began on 13 November 2022.
- Roughly 50 beds at the new Central Mental Hospital have remained unused more than three years after opening, while at least 38 people await admission on prison landings.
- Minister of State Mary Butler rejected claims that seclusion substitutes for care, said CMH seclusion has fallen over the last 18 months, and reported 114 current patients, two beds opened in December, and plans to open 26 more by year-end, citing staffing constraints.
- The Inspector of Mental Health Services has labeled seclusion policy at the CMH a critical risk with growing non-compliance, and legal experts note prisons fall outside Mental Health Commission oversight despite frequent 23‑hour isolation there.