Mental Health Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-10
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Mary Butler (FF), Waterford

Amendments Nos. 36,193, 200, 204, 208,209, 213 to 216, inclusive, 219, 220, 223 to 227, inclusive, 230, 232, 239, 257, 283, 285, 287 and 289 have been grouped together. These amendments relate to the Family Courts Act 2024 and will align court proceedings for children in a mental health context with court proceedings for children in a child protection and a family law context.
In short, where a child is subject to court proceedings under this Bill, such as where a child is to be involuntarily admitted, those proceedings will now be heard in the Family District Court rather than the District Court. If it is not possible to arrange a sitting of the Family District Court, the regular District Court can continue to hear such proceedings. These are consequential amendments to change references from the Circuit Court to the Family Circuit Court and from the High Court to the Family High Court.
The Family Courts Act 2024 is the responsibility of the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, so I will not speak to the provisions of that Act in detail. However, I will say that the Family Courts Act 2024 reforms our family law system by establishing specialised courts within the District, Circuit and High Courts. This Act will appoint judges with family law expertise to these courts and introduce regional hubs. These amendments align court proceedings for children under the mental health Bill with the family court system. The alignment with the family court system is a positive step for all children the subject of court proceedings because the Family Court is child friendly and sets out in its guiding principles that the best interests of the child are the primary consideration of the court. Officials in my Department will continue to liaise with officials in the Departments of justice and children as we move towards commencement.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-12-10/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:26+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-10