A man found guilty but insane of the murder of a patient in a Cork psychiatric hospital is seeking to be transferred to the hospital where the killing occurred, the High Court was told yesterday.
The Southern Health Board denied it was being obstructive in refusing to accept Gerard O'Halloran into its care. Counsel for the board, Mr Hugh O'Neill SC, said his client's reluctance to take the man stemmed from a lack of facilities available to the board.
Yesterday was the second day of a hearing in which O'Halloran (42) is seeking to be transferred to St Anne's Psychiatric Hospital, Shanakiel, Cork. O'Halloran has been in the Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, Dublin, since 1989, when he was found guilty but insane of the murder of a fellow patient in St Anne's in 1988.
Mr Justice Geoghegan said a court order could not be obtained against the SHB since it had not been ordered to do anything by the Minister in this case.
The strongest relief O'Halloran could get was a court declaration. Counsel for O'Halloran, Mr Diarmaid McGuinness SC, said he accepted this. But he also wanted to join the Minister for Health as a co-respondent in the action. The judge said he would join the Minister for Health to the proceedings for the purpose of binding the Minister, if necessary, to any order the court might make.
Mr Peter Charleton SC, for the State, said while it was not for him to make the SHB's case, he presumed they feared a recurrence or damage to other patients if the transfer took place. It had been suggested that the Central Mental Hospital was some sort of penal institution, but this was not the case. It was an institution of care. While the Minister was empowered to make a transfer order for a person in Dundrum, he could only do so where accommodation was available in a suitable alternative institution, and where the transfer was in the best interests of the patient and community.
Mr Charleton agreed with Mr Justice Geoghegan that the only reason why the Minister's decision agreeing to the transfer in 1994 had not been implemented was because of the opposition of the health board.
Mr O'Neill SC, for the board, said the ministers had no power to compel his client to receive O'Halloran. Neither was the board obliged to accept the applicant whether or not it had the facilities to do so.
There were very good reasons why it would not be appropriate to transfer the person in this case. The facilities were simply not there and it was not a function of the court to direct that they be made available.
Mr Justice Geoghegan reserved judgment.