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

There is a lot in that, and that is why it is taking so much of our time. However, I too am emotional and passionate about this. I have spent my entire life as an advocate. I do not see myself ever as a politician but as an advocate, and this is one of the areas in which I have always advocated because I believe in the cause in my very heart and being. Also, I have lived experience of it. Therefore, I put great store in the Ombudsman for Children. Any time he is here, I seek to engage with his presentations. I have great support for the Children's Rights Alliance. I wholly believe in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in its entirety, just as I believe in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
It is unacceptable for anybody to advocate, allow or accept the continuation of a situation in which children do not get age-appropriate care. All children are entitled to it. We have got to put our money where our mouths are and our resources where they are needed. We need age-appropriate accommodation for all our children. It is not appropriate to incarcerate any child with an adult in a psychiatric care situation. There has been a litany of abuses of children in all forms of institutional care, but not necessarily to do with mental health. There are worries for both the child, who is paramount in any debate, and the institutions themselves.
The Minister of State has explained, and I fully accept, that she has devoted a lot of time to this. What is really important is her statement that the UN convention was not incorporated into domestic Irish law. Is that not a challenge for us as politicians on all sides of the House?

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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