Publication of the Third Annual Progress Report of the High Level Taskforce on Mental Health and Addiction

The Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD, the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Jim O’Callaghan TD, Minister of State for Mental Health, Mary Butler TD and Minister for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy, Jennifer Murnane O’Connor TD, have published the Third Annual Report of the High Level Taskforce Steering Committee on Mental Health and Addiction. The Report sets out progress on a range of actions being taken to address mental health and addiction needs of people in prison.

This is the third report of the Steering Committee which was established by the Department of Health and the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to monitor implementation of recommendations in the High Level Taskforce report, published in 2022. The committee’s first and second reports are available here.

Key areas of progress over the period covered in the report from September 2024 to September 2025 include the launch of the Community Access Support Team (CAST) pilot project in Limerick; €2.1 million provided to open the remaining 18 beds in the Central Mental Hospital; €2 million provided for new talk therapies and counselling supports specifically for men; the appointment of the Irish Prison Service (IPS) Mental Health and Addiction Lead; Publication of “Community or Custody? A Review of Evidence and Sentencers’ Perspectives on Community Service Orders and Short-Term Prison Sentences”; and the Launch of Ireland’s first Mental Health Promotion Plan - ‘Pathways to Wellbeing’.

Minister Carroll MacNeill said:

Minister O’Callaghan said:

Minister Butler said:

Minister Murnane O’Connor said:

This third annual progress report was prepared by the HLTF Joint Steering Committee, incorporating input from relevant bodies such as the Health Service Executive, Irish Prison Service, Probation Service, and An Garda Síochána.

The High Level Taskforce (HLTF) was established in 2021 to meet the Government’s commitment to ensure the critical mental health needs of people in prison are met, addiction treatments are provided and appropriate primary care supports are available on release, in order to ensure improved outcomes for the individuals concerned and for society as a whole. The final report of the HLTF, published in September 2022, contained 61 recommendations reflecting the work of three subgroups.

Key items addressed in the Third Annual Progress Report over the period September 2024 to September 2025 include:

• The launch of the Community Access Support Team (CAST) pilot project in Limerick on 7 October 2024. The project commenced operation on Monday, 13 January 2025. CAST is a pilot project currently being trialled in the Limerick Garda Division. It is a partnership pilot between An Garda Síochána and the Mental Health Services of HSE Mid-West Community Healthcare. By co-responding to the public based on individual need, a key element of CAST is to signpost members of the public to the right person, at the right time, in the right place.
• €2.1 million provided to open the remaining 18 beds in the Central Mental Hospital. These beds will allow patients to be moved more efficiently through the various levels of support offered by the care pathway in the hospital, which will in turn allow for further admissions. This will advance key recommendations of the HLTF and will help to alleviate pressures on referrals from the Irish Prison Service.
• €2 million provided for new talk therapies and counselling supports specifically for men. Access to the services began in September 2025. This initiative is embedded within Ireland’s approach to mental health policy implementation. This recurring funding is allocated from Budget 2025 as part of an integrated series of initiatives led by the Minister to ensure people with mental health difficulties are able to access the appropriate range of supports, from mental health promotion and prevention, through to specialist services and clinical programmes.
• Appointment of Irish Prison Service (IPS) Mental Health and Addiction Lead to support the work of the HLTF. The IPS appointed a National Clinical Lead for Mental Health and Addiction in 2024. The National Clinical Lead is making significant strides to enhance care for those experiencing mental health difficulties and/or addiction issues across the prison estate.
• Continued rollout of the following Models of Care: Dual Diagnosis, Consultation Liaison Psychiatry, Early Intervention in Psychosis, ADHD and Crisis Resolution Services.
• Development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) under way to create easy access to case management services to ensure that mental health difficulties can be treated within social inclusion/primary care and prison settings. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Irish Prison Service and the Central Mental Hospital was signed in early 2024 to deliver a partnership approach that creates easy access to case management services to ensure that mental health difficulties can be treated within social inclusion/primary care and prison settings. An oversight group was established at the time, and the Data Sharing Agreement has been completed and signed. The development of SOPs, as identified in the MoU, has commenced.
• Passage of the Mental Health Bill through Committee Stage in the Dáil in June 2025, Report stage in July 2025 and Second Stage in the Seanad in September 2025. This is a landmark piece of legislation to update our mental health laws. The Bill represents the largest overhaul of mental health legislation since the introduction of the Mental Health Act 2001, making our legislation more person-centred and in closer alignment to Ireland’s international human rights obligations, such as under the UNCRPD. The Programme for Government commits to enacting this legislation to modernise mental health services for those who need them, and to put in place the necessary safeguards to ensure the rights of people with mental health difficulties are protected in the decades to come.
• Publication of “Community or Custody? A Review of Evidence and Sentencers’ Perspectives on Community Service Orders and Short-Term Prison Sentences”. The report examines the impact of the Criminal Justice (Community Service) (Amendment) Act 2011 with the expressed intention of encouraging greater use of community service orders (CSOs) for people convicted of minor crimes for which a sentence of imprisonment is deemed appropriate.
• Healthy Ireland seminar entitled “Developing a Healthy Prisons Framework for Ireland – Improving the health and wellbeing of those who work and live in prisons”. There was representation from organisations such as the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, the Irish Prison Service, Prison Officers Association, the HSE, the Institute of Public Health, the Health Research Board and various agencies and advocacies. The aim of the seminar was to provide a platform to consider the evidence and identify the challenges and opportunities in relation to promoting health and wellbeing in Irish Prisons.
• Development of the next Suicide and Self-Harm Reduction Strategy, informed by an evaluation of Connecting for Life 2015-2024 and a public consultation process. The Government’s approach to suicide reduction, intervention and postvention (support after a tragedy has occurred) is set out in the policy Connecting for Life. Over 2025, the Department of Health was developing the next suicide and self-harm reduction strategy. This work has been informed by an evaluation of Connecting for Life, Ireland’s national suicide reduction strategy 2015-2024.
• Launch of Ireland’s first Mental Health Promotion Plan - ‘Pathways to Wellbeing’. The Plan delivers a whole of government response to address both universal needs across the population and targeted supports addressing the needs of those most at risk of experiencing mental health difficulties. Under Goal 3 of the Plan—Strengthen Community Belonging and Connectedness—a key objective seeks to enhance access to tailored mental health promotion supports for the prison population, recognising this group’s heightened vulnerability and need for targeted intervention.
• Proposal progressing to provide Virtual Care to prisoners that embeds a structured, specialist-led pathway to manage high-burden chronic diseases. The HSE, in association with the IPS, has developed a proposal to provide Virtual Care to prisoners that embeds a structured, specialist-led pathway to manage high-burden chronic diseases.

The Final Report of the High Level Taskforce to consider the mental health and addiction challenges of those who come into contact with the Criminal Justice sector was published in September 2022. The Final Report reflects the work of the three subgroups of the Taskforce.

Subgroup 1: Diversion. Chaired by a member of An Garda Síochána. This subgroup looked at the very first contacts and sought to divert individuals from progressing into the criminal justice system whereby An Garda Síochána implemented a diversion policy for use in suitable cases when members come in contact with adults with mental illness who may have committed a minor offence.

Subgroup 2: Prison Service / Central Mental Hospital Capacity. Chaired by an Irish Prison Service Director. This subgroup examined the existing and future needs of individuals within the criminal justice system. The objective of Subgroup 2’s work was to ensure that there is adequate provision of services to meet the mental health and dual diagnosis needs of those in prisons. The recommendations from this subgroup focus on how improvements can be made to the existing care arrangements.

Subgroup 3: Community issues and through-care from custody. Chaired by the Director of the Probation Service. The focus of Subgroup 3’s work was an examination of service provision in the community and the related processes involved in a prisoner’s throughcare from custody to community. Subgroup 3’s objective is to ensure that there are sufficient safeguards in place and adequate provision of services to prevent individuals from relapsing into damaging behaviours undermining the rehabilitative efforts made by the individual and the State.