I do not wish to discuss it at this stage.

I will discuss it when we-----

I will not discuss it now because there are lots of amendments relating to care orders and I want to get some bit of flow into the technical amendments and to ensure we can get some work done. All it is doing is moving it from section 59 to section 2.

All of these amendments are technical in nature or relate to typographical errors that needed to be fixed, such as a dot, "i" or "t". There is nothing else here, only things relating to typographical errors that need to be fixed.

I thank the Senators for the opportunity to discuss the important matter of pharmacological restraint. At the outset, though, it is important to say that I cannot agree with Senator Ruane's comment that restrictive practices are being used at an alarming rate, as there has been a significant amount of work done. I have done a lot of work in this area myself over the past few years. I want to highlight and commend the excellent work being done by mental health services in Ireland to reduce the use of restrictive pra…

I will check it out.

I will check.

I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on the role he played today in the very important visit by President Zelenskyy. Pharmacological restraint refers to the administration of medication to a person where the purpose of the medication is only to control a person's behaviour or control access to his or her body. That is the first point and that must be made clear. I do not have a clinical background. I say this every time I speak on the Bill. Everything I do is based on lived experience and common sense. Pharmacological …

I thank Senator Ruane for her presentation for sharing her lived experience. I understand how passionate she feels about this. She is telling me I have an opportunity relating to dual diagnosis. I have been in this role since June 2020 and the first thing that was presented to me when I came into it was a copy of Sharing the Vision, our mental health policy. That strategy puts the service user front and centre, was cross-departmental, recognised lived experience and peer support, and also recognised dual diagnosis.…

Sorry?

The term is also frequently used to describe a person with a mental health difficulty and an intellectual disability. Defining dual diagnosis as a term that relates only to substance use problems and mental health difficulties would exclude other forms of dual diagnosis, creating unintentional confusion and service complications.

Yes, we can

That is not the case

No

Yes.

No. I will respond in a minute.

I never said that.

I am not; the Deputy is.

I would like to for a second because I cannot leave that unchallenged. The Mental Health Bill does not preclude anyone with addiction issues from accessing mental health services where the admission is for the purposes of treating the person’s mental disorder or mental health difficulty primarily. There may be addiction issues also, but such issues are not only about drugs. They can involve alcohol and gambling, and these relate to dual diagnosis also. I am working with a man who has mental health challenges and wh…

That is why I am not going to specify what dual diagnosis is. Dual diagnosis issues are being treated. I accept that the services are not where I want them to be. We are rolling them out incrementally year on year and building them up. One cannot say that an adult with an intellectual disability and mental health challenges cannot have an addiction also.