Mental Health Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-10 ============================================================ Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel No. We are the policymakers, the legislators. It is a challenge for us. It is a failing that it is not a priority. I do not know whether anyone thought this issue was important enough to put into the programme for Government. I do not have it in front of me. What I do know, however, is that the issue was not accorded sufficient priority by those who have been in government for many years in some shape or form. There are amazing, strong advocates on the Government and Opposition benches in the Seanad who have advocated very strongly for the disability sector, children, justice, equality, care, and compassion and empathy for people less fortunate than ourselves or who are particularly vulnerable. I am referring to both children and adults. Anyone who is vulnerable needs support. I was not aware of what the Minister of State told us today about the conventions. I put my hands up in that regard. It demonstrates the benefit of teasing out, line by line, the legislation. I was simply not aware that neither of the conventions has been incorporated into Irish law. I would love to know who will prioritise this and how it will be prioritised. I would have thought a Minister would come in here one day and say it is on the Government's agenda. This has to be regarded as important. My colleague Senator Clonan has been doing amazing work on disability. I do not even know if he was fully aware of what I have referred to. I would have thought that because the Minister of State has been working on this primary legislation for a long time and became aware at some point of the position on the important conventions, she would have tried to incorporate them into legislation. This Bill could be referred back to committee. Technically, that is possible. I am not in the business of frustrating legislation. I have five amendments and believe three were ruled out of order. The all-encompassing amendment that I came up with, No. 36a, covers the areas of debate I wanted to raise with the Minister of State. That is important. The issue of age-appropriate care is important. Let us be clear for people listening tonight and tomorrow to these proceedings, which will be on the record, that nobody in this House on any side wants our children incarcerated under any circumstances. We have been talking about this for years, and report after report has condemned the fact that vulnerable children have been put into adult care settings. Whose interest is paramount in all of this? The psychiatrists, psychologists and gardaí will all have their interests but children are of principal importance. What we are discussing is the weakest part of this legislation. I am not here to knock this legislation; I am trying to improve it. We are the advocates for the children. We should cherish all the children of the nation equally and support them. This is central to our being. I do not see anyone who has a veto on this. We all believe in it. I am not sure what the proposals are. I do not know what the Minister of State's advice was. She might share it with me if she can. She might not be in a position to do so, which I understand. Has there been discussion at Government level? I note the Minister of State's point that there must be a whole-of-government approach rather than one involving any one segment of the Government. I note that but I wonder whether there is now a commitment to make this a priority. The Minister of State has highlighted it here and in other places. I am flabbergasted to think about whether these conventions mean anything. In fact, they are not incorporated into domestic law. I could go on at length about this. I reassure the Minister of State that my only motive is not to block any reform of mental health. It is really important. I want to thank the other organisations that have been in touch with me, including Mental Health Ireland. The Government is spending a lot of money on assistance and financial support for advocacy groups. I got a bit a of a handle on that today. It is important in a democracy that we support advocacy groups. This is a weakness in the Bill and it needs to be rectified. I hear what the Minister of State is saying. That is her call. She is ultimately the Minister of State and is driving the Bill through, and I respect that. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. 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