Mental Health Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-29
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Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel

I thank the Minister of State and her officials who have also had to listen to us. We have had to talk but they have had to listen.
I particularly thank the people in the audience who came, some of whom followed every bit of this debate and others who tuned in. Clearly, from the interactions of our emails and telephone calls, people were listening and were involved. That is very important.
I want to single out the Leas-Chathaoirleach, Senator Byrne. As the Minister of State said, she certainly gave it impetus and drew it along. At certain points, I do not think she asked anybody, she just pursued them and no one opposed it. That kept up the smoothness. When you are pleasant, it pushes things along. She has an abundance in that regard and I thank her for doing that.
We had 384 amendments and 22 sections, so it was a comprehensive Bill. I also want to call out and say a big thank you to the people who work in the service and to everybody who works in mental health services. Pick up the phone and tell people if there is a problem. If you see anything, talk to families. Families also need to talk and be guardians of their loved ones in care. I salute the practitioners, workers, volunteers and all the other add-ons. Mental health affects all of us at some point in our lives and we never know when it is going to affect us.
This is important legislation. We are the Upper House, and I remind every Minister of that. We have a function in revising legislation; that is our principle and primary function in Seanad Éireann. The Minister of State had a lot to dwell and think on. I have to say that she has always been respectful and I hope I have been respectful to her. We have had robust engagement but this helps the process and I thank the Minister of State for acknowledging the level of debate in these Houses because that is very important. There is always a high level of engagement. What is also nice about here is we have the freedom within this House to, dare I say it, cut across each other, to cross-engage in a very close proximity of the Chamber itself. It makes it more meaningful. Of course, there is an ante room to this Chamber where we also have opportunities before we come in and when we go out to talk to the Minister of State and she is always very receptive to that engagement. I thank her and her officials.
I particularly want to thank the Bills Office. Sometimes we forget about it. I would not want to be working in the Bills Office doing all these stats.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-01-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:34+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-29