Mental Health Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-10
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Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel

I move amendment No. 36a:
In page 22, after line 38, to insert the following:
“(a) in line with the best interests of the child, this section must be fully compliant with the United Nations Convention on Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) of which Ireland are signatories;”.
I submitted this amendment because we had not reached section 10, and it was open to me to submit an additional amendment. It very much hinges on many of the issues I talked about. The amendment reads:
In page 22, after line 38, to insert the following:
“(a) in line with the best interests of the child, this section must be fully compliant with the United Nations Convention on Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) of which Ireland are signatories;”.
We went through this at some length. I will give the Minister of State a brief rationale of why I am bringing this amendment forward. She will have considered matters at this stage and she will know the position that she best wants to promote here.
Amendments Nos. 39, 40 and 57 in my name were ruled out of order. That is not the Minister of State's call; it is the Cathaoirleach's call. Those amendments sought to make the sanctions more robust. I came back at it. I spoke to a number of people, and I thought this might be very much a broad brush-stroke that would catch many things.
The Children's Rights Alliance has promoted the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. I will not go into that at any great length. There is also the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which contains many articles. I looked at Article 7. I was conscious that there is a reference to this in the explanatory memorandum to the Bill. That prompted me to further investigate the issue. These memoranda are very handy. It is not my work; it is the work of the Minister of State's officials and the Parliamentary Counsel.
This relates to section 10 and the guiding principles that apply in respect of children. Rather than continue talking and reading out what I had prepared, it might be more productive to listen to the Minister of State and hear her rationale and the reason for it. Perhaps we will meet in the middle, but I do not know because I cannot pre-empt what she will say. I will hand over to her, if that is possible, and I will then respond, if that is permitted.

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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