Mental Health Bill 2024: From the Seanad
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-29
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Liam Quaide (SD), Cork East

I acknowledge the significant improvements that have been made to the Bill through the Seanad process. That is very much appreciated.
Amendment No. 276 relates to a very concerning provision in the Bill. A child in serious mental health distress needs urgent clinical assessment and therapeutic support. They do not need the trauma and stigma of Garda custody. A Garda station is not a therapeutic environment. It is not a child-centred or trauma-informed environment. Gardaí themselves are not clinicians. They are not trained to assess severe mental health difficulties or determine whether a child meets involuntary admission criteria. There is a real risk that neurodivergent behaviours, trauma responses or extreme distress will be misunderstood in that context. There is also a safeguarding concern, because Garda stations can be chaotic, frightening and distressing places to be. A child in crisis may be exposed to shouting, intoxication, displays of violence or other highly charged situations. All of this delays the very thing that the child needs most, which is prompt clinical assessment and therapeutic support. Whatever way this provision is framed, it risks taking children deeper into a coercive and adverse environment when what they need is a health-led, trauma-informed response.
I acknowledge and welcome the prohibition of ECT for children. That is a significant child protection and human rights safeguard.
Reverting to the admission of children who are placed in adult psychiatric units, I know that is a very small number and has been declining considerably in recent years. I appreciate the attention that the Minister of State has given to this, but I just want to stress that low numbers are not the same as a legal safeguard. If a practice is wrong, particularly when it is tied to under-resourcing, it needs to be resolved through State investment and legal safeguards, not simply reduced. However, I acknowledge that it has been significantly reduced. I understand the Minister of State's concerns about tying the hands of clinicians, as she said before, but their hands are tied if their services have not been resourced sufficiently.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-29