Mental Health Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-09
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Mary Butler (FF), Waterford

I cannot speak to individual cases and it is unfair of the Senator to expect me to do so in the context of a debate on legislation. This Bill is hugely important. It will make a significant difference to many people who are very ill. The majority of mental health services are provided in the community. It is really important that mental health services be regulated in respect of CAMHS and in respect of people who have endured mental health conditions and live well in their communities. It is also really important in regard to 16- and 17-year-olds, who will be able to consent to treatment in respect of their mental health.
Those who are involuntarily detained are the sickest people in society and they are crying out for help. No clinician, garda or family member supports lightly the involuntary admission of a person to a psychiatric ward. Very few families in Ireland have not engaged with somebody with a mental health disorder, illness or challenge or with emotional distress. I am often challenged by people whose loved one has been turned away by a department of psychiatry or approved centre. When people are involuntarily detained, they are very ill and at their lowest ebb. It is really important to recognise that the first body to be advised when someone is involuntarily detained is the Mental Health Commission. These people have rights and those rights are being cemented in this Bill. That means we will continue doing what we did under the 2001 Act in that a tribunal or review will be ordered between days 14 and 21.
According to the statistics relating to the number of people who had that review on day 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18, the majority of the reviews happen at that stage. I am not a clinician and I am not sure how many clinicians are in the Seanad, but it is really important that people get the best opportunity they can to engage with their legal representative and the review board. The best information available to me is that in most cases this can happen to people who are very ill or involuntarily detained, and it can happen from day 14 onwards. There might be individual cases that do not agree with that, but I am happy to stand over this amendment.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-12-09/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:26+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-09