Mental Health Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-20
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Laura Harmon (LAB), Industrial and Commercial Panel

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I support the comments of my colleagues Senators Cosgrove and Black in relation to this. To be clear, there was no mistake in the wording of these amendments and they have the support of Mental Health Reform, representatives of which are in the Public Gallery today. The purpose of these amendments is to eliminate the use of a person's potential risk to others as a stand-alone justification for involuntary detention and treatment as this criterion does not align with established human rights standards. Instead, the amendments seek to ensure that involuntary admission is only permitted when there is a serious and immediate risk to the individual's own health or safety.
We have to be careful here in terms of having a clear, evidence-based approach for this and ensuring that there is not a double standard at work when detaining individuals with mental health difficulties because this can contribute to great stigma. In terms of lived experiences, many individuals report trauma or loss of autonomy and long-term distrust in services following involuntary treatment. Hearing these voices and learning from them is essential in shaping ethical and effective mental health policy. We cannot have policies that are based on perceived dangerousness. There has to be a very real and proven behavioural risk. We cannot unjustly target vulnerable populations and undermine their rights. We have to be extra careful. It is also important to have the debate on this issue on the record of the House.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-01-20/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:31+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-20