Mental Health Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-22 ============================================================ Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel Apologies for coming in at the end of the Minister of State's contribution. I believe I am right in saying that she will be banning the use of ECT on children. That is an important measure. We will discuss sections 84 and 91 later and we will talk again about ECT because some of these issues overlap. The matter of safeguarding in relation to the use of restrictive practices on children is very concerning, so I am glad to hear the proposal made by the Minister of State. This debate has given me another opportunity to talk about the issue of children. It is a very sensitive issue. Having listened to the Minister of State in our last session, I read the Mental Health Commission's reports, which had some really interesting stuff about this matter. The numbers are perhaps less than what some of us might have thought, which was mentioned by the Minister of State, but they are concerning. The Mental Health Commission flagged a number of concerns. While it is important that we welcome any safeguards in terms of the legislation, it remains deeply concerning to Senators that the State is explicitly authorising the use and practice of mechanical restraint in certain circumstances, physical restraint and the seclusion of children. After I looked at this Bill and talked to all of the various advocates, that was one of the key concerns expressed. I do not want to be repetitive, but I want to keep impressing upon the Minister of State the issues around the practice of mechanical restraint, physical restraint, medication and seclusion of children. It is all very disturbing. The ethical development and implications of such interventions being administered to young people always have to be questioned, particularly in terms of those already in crisis. As I keep mentioning, this issue concerns all children, particularly children in crisis circumstances, so it warrants serious reflection. Clearly, the Minister of State has reflected on it. I am sorry, but I had to attend another meeting. I have just come back in. The issue of safeguarding should at all times not obscure the fundamental question of whether such practices should be permitted, especially given the potential for trauma, the violation of rights and long-term harm. Through all sections of this debate, I have cited the CRPD and the Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC, extensively. They emphasise the protection of children from violence, and emphasise the importance of autonomy and dignity. The recurring words are "autonomy", "choice", "dignity" and "advocacy". I am not saying that we have lost sight of them but they are the critical issues of concern in relation to this legislation. When we look at the proceedings in the Dáil, we can see these recurring themes. The Minister of State has either addressed or attempted to address them. In some cases, she has not accepted amendments that have been put forward. To be fair, she set out the rationale for not accepting them. These are key issues, however. If we look at the reports of the Mental Health Commission, we can see that it continues to raise concerns. The Minister of State is familiar with the criteria that the applies in the context of assessments. I talked extensively about Bloomfield. I welcomed her commentary the other night and have spoken to a number of people about it yesterday and just a few minutes ago. I look forward to that progressing in whatever form. One of the most critical points relating to children - we will return to this on Report Stage - is that we have not been able to ban outright the situation regarding children in adult mental health units. I know that the new and exciting children’s hospital will be coming on stream. What people are asking is whether we can somehow articulate our ambition either now or in our later deliberations on the Bill. As the Minister of State says, it is not always necessary to produce primary legislation. There is also secondary legislation. Clearly, however, it has to be our ambition that no children, at any stage, will have to enter treatment in adult mental health facilities. We know, of course, that part of the reason for them having to go into such facilities is due to a lack of resources and staff. There are also issues in respect of beds and CAMHS. These are the realities of the situation, and there are challenges in respect of this matter. An organisation that has not really been mentioned - I touched base with it - is the Psychiatric Nurses Association, PNA, which has between 6,500 and 7,000 members. It is important that we acknowledge the work of psychiatric nurses. They do amazing work. They have a very effective trade union that regularly keeps in touch with Members of both Houses and that articulates their concerns, be it in respect of recruitment or resources. I said before that I have more hope now than I had when we started this process a few weeks ago. Having talked to the wonderful mental health advocates and to the staff of these facilities at all levels in the context of services and medical interventions, I am of the view that they are fully committed to voicing any concerns. We saw what happened with the whistleblower at Bloomfield, as we talked about the other day. In the context of the children that are found in these services, I would love to be able to say at the end of this process, and I believe the Minister of State would like to say it as well, that we will have explicitly outlawed certain things in primary legislation and in time. I hear what people say about time and the progress of it, and the numbers are decreasing radically, that much is clear. I would also love to be able to say that we have new mental health legislation that is fit for purpose and that for the first time it will be made clear and explicit in primary legislation that no child will be forced into a mental healthcare setting meant for adults. This is to protect the both the individuals and all the other people involved. I again apologise for coming in at the end of the Minister of State's contribution. I was at a meeting elsewhere. I welcome what she set out. I am of the view that it is positive. --- 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/2026-01-22/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:32+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-01-22