The court will provide the necessary independent oversight. A Bill of this nature involves interacting with other Departments, as we have spoken about in respect of the Department of justice and the changes it made in regard to family courts. In addition, as I said, a lot of these amendments came from the Department of children. My understanding is that the court will provide the independent oversight that is necessary. Amendment No. 234, which is a lengthy amendment, was also drawn up following consultation. These…

Senator Boyhan raised the issue of equality. Equality is a principle enshrined in the Constitution, as we know, and we must ensure no child is disadvantaged in accessing any service because he or she is not under the legal guardianship of his or her parents. The principle is one that we all hold very dear. I am glad the Senator raised care plans because we have not spoken much about them at all. As Minister of State for older people and mental health in the previous Dáil and as Minister of State for mental health i…

In relation to the Garda?

It is quite a while since we discussed this part of the Bill. When this Bill is passed and enacted, gardaí will no longer be involved in involuntary detentions. They will be completely off the pitch. This is what the Garda wants and what we want to achieve. We will have authorised officers instead. At present, there are approximately 117 authorised officers trained. The majority of them work in mental health. They might be social workers or mental health nurses. Before we can enact the relevant part of the Bill, we…

Yes, he did.

Yes, I do. On that particular day, I had officials with me and he had officials with him as well. We had a good meeting for about 90 minutes and we went through several elements of the Bill that he had concerns with. I told him my direction of travel. Some changes have been made to my direction of travel since I met the ombudsman but, while I do not think anyone can be 100% happy with any one Bill, what I am trying to do through my work with the Department of children is ensure that there will be no unintended cons…

No, I did not answer that comprehensively and I will now. There will be regulations made to ensure that Garda powers are used appropriately. Gardaí can and do currently attend to mental health presentations for children but the use of Garda powers will be used as sparingly as possible. We will address all of that in the next stages. The enactment piece is hugely important. That will be phase 2 and I will be back to the House again.

I will do my best to answer some of the Members' questions. I thank them for raising them. Amendments Nos. 264 to 268, inclusive, and Nos. 271 and 273 are being discussed together. Amendment No. 264 provides for a new section 77 of the Bill, which sets out that where the parents of a child to be admitted voluntarily, or their guardian, or Tusla, as appropriate, are unable to bring the child to the registered acute mental health centre for admission, they can request the assistance of the centre to arrange for the t…

I have a couple of points. The term "other places" is used in the 2001 Act and there have not been any unintended consequences since then. It is also used in the 2024 Bill regarding adults, so we just kept the same language going. A registered acute mental health centre is defined in the Bill as only an inpatient service registered by the commission. By definition, it cannot be a transfer to somewhere that is not registered by the commission; that just cannot happen. As I said, any transfer would be for the purpose…

In the first instance, I wish to speak to amendment No. 297. This amendment provides for a new section in relation to applications to the family District Court for treatment orders in certain circumstances. This is an important provision and is needed to ensure there is a substitute decision maker in place for children where there is an absence of consent or refusal. For example, an application may be made to the District Court to act as substitute decision maker on behalf of a child where the child is under 16 yea…

I will speak to amendments Nos. 303 to 306 inclusive and 309, which have been grouped together and relate to restrictive practices on children. Amendment No. 303 inserts explicit reference to including the "best interests and the welfare of the child" as the primary consideration - we would have spoken about this earlier, Senator Boyhan - along with the guiding principles for children in section 10, in any regulations made by the Mental Health Commission for the application of a restrictive practice for a child in …

The Mental Health Act 2001 contained very little information in relation to restrictive practices for children and for adults. Section 69 simply states at the moment, in relation to seclusion and bodily restraint, that such seclusion or restraint can only be carried out in accordance with rules to be made by the Mental Health Commission. A person who contravenes these rules is liable for conviction, and this applied to both adults and children. As Senators will be aware, the Mental Health Bill 2024 overhauls our ap…

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…

These amendments are typographical and insert the word "the" where required. Amendment No. 316 replaces an incorrect subsection reference. Amendment No. 317 corrects the definition of "committee of inquiry" to add that it is for use of section 335 only. Amendment No. 318 replaces the term "the inquiry" with "carrying out an inquiry". They are all typographical. They are all related to wording.

I will speak to both amendments. They have been grouped together because the commission is mentioned, but they are quite different so I will speak to both of them individually, if that is okay. First, in relation to the Senator’s amendment, this was presented on Committee Stage in the Dáil and I have looked at it, but my position remains unchanged and I will tell the Senator why. I do not think it is appropriate for primary legislation. The commission is independent in its functions, and I would have concerns about…

I can come in.

As Senators may be aware, a consultant psychiatrist is the only person who can make an order to detain someone involuntarily under the Mental Health Act. It is a huge responsibility and must only be done as a last resort. When a person is under the care of a consultant psychiatrist, that psychiatrist is responsible for that person and has legal responsibility for their care and treatment. This means the psychiatrist is the person who is liable for the person receiving treatment. Considering the central role of psyc…

I move: Tuesday's business shall be: - Motion re Eighth Report of the Standing Committee of Selection (without debate and any division claimed to be taken immediately) - Motion re Commission on the Future of the Family Farm Bill 2024 (without debate) - Motion re Proposed approval by Dáil Éireann of the exercise by the State of Article 20 of the Treaty on European Union authorising enhanced cooperation on the establishment of a Loan for Ukraine (to conclude within 60 minutes and any division claimed to be taken imme…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I will not be accepting that amendment. In relation to all the issues that were raised by the various spokespersons, we can consider all of them on Thursday. We have a really busy schedule in the next few days. We have the Child Care (Amendment) Bill this afternoon, there are two items of Private Members' business from the Opposition with one on mental health and the other on disability, we have statements on infrastructure and we have the International Protection Bill. The Order of Bus…

No.