Mental Health Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-17
============================================================

Mary Butler (FF), Waterford

Starting with Senators Black and Harmon, who raised the same issue, these amendments propose the replacement or removal of the term "due weight". We discussed that at length and felt it was more appropriate to remove it from the wording. I thank Senator Harmon for withdrawing her amendment, particularly as the issues she raised are dealt with in amendment No. 37.
In the context of what Senator Costello said, the Mental Health Commission will be responsible for publishing codes of practice in relation to capacity assessments for children. Prior to publishing these codes, the commission will engage with stakeholders and consider every aspect of what capacity assessments for 16- and 17-year-olds should look like, who can carry out those assessments and what supports will be needed for young people and their parents throughout the process.
Professor Philip Dodd, the assistant chief medical officer in the Department of Health, supports me for two and a half days each week in the context of the work I do. He is also a consultant psychiatrist. I am very confident about the supports available to me and about the work I will be doing with the Mental Health Commission. The stakeholders and, importantly, the voices of the parents must also be considered. I am a parent. There are many parents sitting in this room today. When and if the Bill is passed - I am confident it will be passed with the support of all the Senators - we will move to the enactment stage. The Mental Health Commission will have a significant role and will be extremely busy when it comes to governance issues, CAMHS, those living in community residences and changing the age of capacity in respect of 16- and 17-year-olds. We will not be in a position to change all of that until the relevant safeguards are in place. There will be no rushing this. At the same time, I do not want it to go on forever either. We will have to be really sure that when we make the change that 16- and 17-year-olds will have the power to consent in relation to their own mental health, with or without capacity and with and without the support of their parents, their guardians or Tusla. All that can only happen when I am confident that we have the best supports in place to make sure it can happen.

---

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/2025-12-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:28+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-17