Mental Health Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-20
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Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel

I will be brief. Again, we are hearing from psychiatrists but there are two, if not three sides, to this story. Psychiatrists have said that some of them are not trained in making reliable assessments of risk in the context of this criterion. They argue that risk assessments are often speculative, inconsistent and prone to error. This is a factor that we must consider because it is qualified psychiatrists who are saying this. Clearly, it is an issue and clear, evidence-based criteria must be used. Alarm bells are being rung. People in the psychiatric services are expressing some concerns about their qualification, experience and ability to assess future risk to others. We must be very careful to ensure that there is a health rather than criminal focus here. As the Minister of State said, this legislation is a health-based initiative. That is the kernel of what we are trying to do here. It is too easy, in some ways, to confuse or conflate the two. There are many people in care who may have been detained for a particular reason and who may be dealing with complex issues but this is primarily a health issue. That is why I am concerned. We have talked about the lived experience but we must also consider the professional experience. This is what professional psychiatrists are telling us and that has to be part of our consideration in our deliberation on this series of amendments.

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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