Mental Health Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-17
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Mary Butler (FF), Waterford

I dealt with this comprehensively last week. We spent a lot of time debating it.
I wish the Senator well now that she is back again. She was keeping up with the debates. When we are invested in a Bill, we all do that. I am glad the Senator is well again. I will take this opportunity to remind everyone that there is an awful flu circulating and if we can, we should encourage our older loved ones, our children and our vulnerable as regards the flu vaccine that is there to support people. We have a huge amount of people in hospital at present with flu and it is very serious for older people. Mr. Bernard Gloster will be delighted that I put that on the record of the House.
I went into this matter in detail last week. On the Senator's statement that the conventions are not invested in any legislation at present, that is a matter for the Minister for children, disability and youth affairs. As to wanting to get to the stage where we proof every single Bill in relation to the rights of the child, I believe that we have already done so across this Bill. Significant efforts have gone into each section to ensure that the best interests of the child are upheld, and where there is an infringement of a child's rights, such infringement is subject to very stringent legal safeguards. We spent an hour last week debating this with Senator Boyhan. It was a good debate. It was important that it was put on the record of the House that that is the situation. I have no doubt it will be dealt with.
At this stage, I need to get this Bill passed. I need to get the enactment up and running. I need to make sure of that because there are a lot of people in this country who are dependent on the new changes in this Bill, especially in relation to their human rights, to come into play.

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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