Mental Health Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-20
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Frances Black (IND), Industrial and Commercial Panel

Amendment No. 106 states:
In page 61, between lines 32 and 33, to insert the following:
“(5) Where a person has been assessed as lacking capacity, further regular reviews of the person’s capacity shall be conducted throughout their subsequent treatment, at least once every 7 days, by the consultant psychiatrists or by another mental healthcare professional involved in the care of that person.”.
I will keep it short. While the Government amendments requiring regular capacity assessments at least once every 14 days constitute an improvement, decision-making capacity is fluid and can change rapidly, especially in the context of mental health treatment. For this reason, formal capacity assessments related to specific treatment decisions should occur more frequently than every two weeks, which I know the Minister of State is inclined to agree with. A requirement for formal capacity assessment at least once every seven days would better reflect the dynamic nature of capacity and would ensure that individuals are not subjected to treatment decisions based on outdated assessments.

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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