Mental Health Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-28
============================================================

Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel

I thank the Minister of State for clarifying some of the points I raised. My concern is really about the importance of the care plan that is to be prepared, which she has acknowledged and is in her amendment. Ensuring all the stakeholders involved in children's care are engaged with the plan is important. That might be their social worker or advocate because, in many cases, the parent or guardian does not enjoy a good, healthy relationship with the child, or vice versa , because there is so much historical trauma or even, in some cases, abuse. I am not here to demonise Tusla but we all know what happened to some children in its care. As I said, I am fully aware of those cases but it is not appropriate for me to name the children involved.
There are processes, coroners' courts, investigations, tribunals and ongoing inquiries. They all have to run their course and all do. We have had too many cases where people either lost their way or lost their lives through mental illness. Some, but not all, were in the care of Tusla. They are the most vulnerable of vulnerable people. The really scary aspect is the number of children, particularly teenagers, about whom no one seems to care, or who themselves feel no one seems to care about them. There is not a night when walking home on the streets around Leinster House that you do not meet young people who are so vulnerable and who may have become involved in drugs or prostitution. They are seeking affirmation, support or someone who expresses remotely any interest in them. They are broken, and they are broken through a system. No one here is denying it but we have got to reach out to them and to the agencies. If anyone has time to go to the District Court, he or she will sometimes note cases where there is no one present to represent the most vulnerable. There are many great Government-funded charities engaged in outreach and there are many good pastoral ministries, but these are very low-key operations.
Everyone, most importantly the child, must know there is a plan. The person must have as much input into it as possible, given his or her circumstances, although this is not always possible. The provision in this regard is one of the most critical in the Bill.
I say to people all the time – sometimes it has to be made very simple – that Johnny or Mary on the street outside today, or anyone who is vulnerable, is someone’s son, daughter, brother or sister. That is how you have got to bring it home. We are here not to complicate things but to highlight that people’s care plans are critical. More important, a care plan must be seen through. Those affected are children.
I am happy with the Minister of State’s explanation. There is no distinction in terms of the pathway, as she has made clear. The pathway is open for everyone. However, we know that when you are vulnerable and no one has that much interest in you, you do not necessarily have an advocate or guardian pushing things along and supporting you in your care plan. That is just part of the system.
We have a good understanding of what we are about on this particular section. Did the Ombudsman for Children have any commentary about this? Maybe he did not. I do not know. Maybe the Minister of State will share it.

---

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/2026-01-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:33+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-28