Mental Health Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-22
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Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel

I will be very brief because Senator Black has covered it pretty well. The Mental Health Commission annual report has just been handed to me. The Mental Health Commission gives constant reminders in relation to human rights. The commission emphasises that human rights have to underpin our approach in everything we do and the services we provide and are obliged to regulate. All of us must not lose sight of that because that is critically important. It is not what is better for someone over that. At no cost can we compromise or infringe our citizens in terms of their human rights and that goes for children right up the whole gamut of people. When we look at that in terms of the Mental Health Commission's vision, right up to 2027, it is continuously repeating that. Yes, it has expressed concerns and I do not intend to spend the afternoon reading a litany of what it is saying but it has highlighted a number of these. What is very interesting in this report, which I will share with the Minister in my debate here later on, is the concerns. This is the latest report and it highlights the concerns. I will set out by naming these institutions later on the record of this House. There are now very serious concerns, which touch on some of the issues that we have had. However, I know we are moving forward, we are moving on, we are going to be progressive and we have great plans ahead. It is important to say at this point that we must never lose sight - and I am not suggesting anyone in this room is - of the human rights, and of course the organisations there, and the advocacy groups that are there formally. Of course there is also then that need for that independent advocacy. I know the Minister of State has outlined how the Bill provides for the right to advocacy but where children are concerned, that is even more sensitive. Then when they are children in care there can be extraordinary situations and that also goes for people in our prisons. There are cohorts of real concern in certain areas. I do not believe we are losing sight of them, I think we are all aware of them but there are specially tailor-made responses for some of those areas.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-01-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:32+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-22