Mental Health Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-10
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Frances Black (IND), Industrial and Commercial Panel

I agree with Senators Boyhan and Stephenson. The Minister of State is aware that adult units are inappropriate. She knows it is potentially harmful for children. We all know these settings are not designed to meet the development and the emotional or safeguarding needs of those young people. Placements in such environments even briefly can be frightening, isolating and traumatic, especially during a mental health crisis. As others have said, the practice violates international human rights standards. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has explicitly called for an end to this practice. Ireland is signatory to the convention. It has to reflect that commitment in law and service delivery.
I wish to highlight what I said yesterday around the fact that even though the Minister of State has reduced the numbers of children going into adult units and she done a lot of work on that, my concern is that if it is not in this legislation that future Ministers will not abide and will not put in the same amount of work and effort. That is why it is important to have it in this legislation. It might be something that the Minister of State may consider going forward.

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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