Mental Health Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-28
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Mary Butler (FF), Waterford

The Child Care Act does not differentiate between children under 16 and over 16. That is the important piece. That is why Tusla must be informed regardless of age. In relation to children over 16 coming from family homes, parents will be notified if it is in the best of the child. The Department is continuing to refine notification provisions before Report Stage. This is a complicated piece of the Bill. A lot of work is going on in the background. I met with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, OPC, at 2.30 p.m. today to discuss certain elements of the Bill that are still live. We will certainly consider the Senator's suggestion. We will engage with her on what she has asked for before we get to the notification provisions, which will be discussed on Report Stage. To flag it for the Senator's diaries, if we can have the agreement of the Seanad in relation to its diary, we will be looking at the week when we come back on 18 March after St. Patrick's Day if that is possible. We need about four weeks to get this piece of it sorted.

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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