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

I thank all Senators for their perspectives on this particular piece. I will make a couple of points. To respond to Senator Boyhan on human rights, the Senator has proposed an amendment, No. 36a, that I hope we will come to soon. We will discuss the issue at that stage. What he is asking about relates to the entire Bill, but I will discuss the matter when the Senator moves amendment No. 36a.
A couple of things have been lost in translation. We know for a fact that, since 2001, the review can happen up to day 21. There are a few differences under the new Bill. The main difference is that the review can now happen up to three months afterwards rather than up to six months. A second difference is that the Bill states that any person, whether a voluntary or involuntary patient and whether an adult or a child, accessing inpatient services may name a family member as his or her nominated person. It is really important that people have that support. That has long been called for.
On the third issue, I will repeat that I am not a clinician. However, I do have lived experience in relation to mental health and family involvement in mental health services. I also have common sense. There is a very small cohort who have been detained involuntarily, rather than being voluntary patients. They are very unwell. I believe that people who are still detained involuntarily by day 14 and need the review would still be quite ill. If they were well enough, their detention would already have been revoked. I will close on that.

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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