Mental Health Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-20 ============================================================ Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel We have to agree each section and this is an opportunity to discuss a section. I thank the Minister of State for her engagement. There has been good engagement, insofar as we could engage given that amendment No. 57 was ruled out of order. I have to say that I have no recollection of receiving any notice of that, which raises serious issues. I am conscious of the people watching the debate. They do not quite understand the parliamentary processes. In making primary legislation, we are informed by our Standing Orders, which are limited and really not satisfactory, but this is democracy. We in the Opposition accept there is a large majority or coalition of like-minded people who form the Government. That is politics and we have had to contend with that for a long time. I have been in this House for ten years. I have a league table and it shows the Government virtually does not support any amendments. That is a terrible indictment on it. It is something that may change in time, but that has not happened yet. We are getting something wrong, and that is as much on the Opposition's side as the Government's. There does not seem to be any consensus on this matter, so we have this situation. We talked about advocates. We asked for a report and we were told we could not have one. If I look out the window, I will see the costs of the infrastructural work that has gone on in this place, yet we are told that for some reason we cannot have a report. What does that say? I am not referring to the Minister of State, but is the political establishment running scared? This is a discussion for another day, but I want to put it on the record. It is exceptionally disappointing that the Members of this Parliament, who were elected in a democratic process, are being told by somebody that we cannot do this. That renders us all useless in terms of legislation. As numerous Taoisigh have said, this is the Upper House whose Members are meant to give added value or revise legislation coming from the Dáil. That is our focus. It is a pity when this happens. It does not serve democracy or the citizens we represent well. There was not even a message about costing. I have not been told it would cost €500 or whatever it might be. I sit on the internal Oireachtas audit committee and I am pretty up to speed on where money is being spent on all facets of these Houses. I am amazed that, as part of our comprehensive remit in relation to this Mental Health Bill, we, as politicians, cannot promote a report on advocacy for people who are unwell. I will leave it at that. It is one of those things. I say again to Senators, Seanad staff and everybody else here, including the Minister of State and anyone who is responsible, that if amendments are going to be ruled out of order, that should be conveyed to the elected Members of Seanad Éireann with adequate notice. We have a constitutional role. A notification may have been emailed to me. I cannot categorically say one was, but I certainly did not receive a letter or notice. The last time this happened, I received a letter a day later. That does not serve democracy well. It is an insult - maybe unintended - to the elected Members. I would like it to be taken away that we be given adequate notice. The minute an amendment is ruled out of order, clearly the Minister of State and her officials should be informed and clearly the Members, and particularly the Member who proposed the amendment, should have adequate notice. We bring people into this House and into the Gallery. We invite them as guests and many of them have encouraged us to consider these amendments. We do not necessarily take amendments as we are handed them. We tweak them, tease them out and validate them. We engage, where possible, with the Department and so on. I thank the Minister of State's staff and her special adviser, Ian, who I spoke to the other day. I also acknowledge the Minister of State's work. We do not see the lights that burn all day and night in her office, or home for that matter. I do not want to be critical of any one individual but let us learn from this. We want adequate notice of when these matters are being dealt with. It does not serve democracy well, nor does it augur well for a meaningful positive engagement on the floor of the House. --- 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/2026-01-20/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:31+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-01-20