A significant number of the amendments I am introducing on Report Stage relate to transitional provisions. In fact, 26 pages of the Report Stage amendments are either transitional provisions or necessary changes to other enactments, such as the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006. I asked my officials to please give me a paragraph on what transitional provisions mean in plain language in order that we can all understand it. Transitional provisions are the sections of a Bill that allow for the transition from an existi…

I will give a little bit more information that might be helpful. On average, there are approximately 200 to 250 people involuntarily detained under the Mental Health Act 2001 at any one time. Every single person detained under the Act receives the same protection and safeguards. This means that before a person is detained, he or she is examined by a consultant psychiatrist. Officials in my Department consulted with the Mental Health Commission and the HSE regarding the transitional provisions. An important point of…

While there are a significant number of amendments in this grouping, they all relate to smaller amendments. These amendments are being introduced to provide clarity or consistency with wording elsewhere. There are no policy changes in this grouping. To pick some examples from this group, amendment No. 30 removes a comma from between the words "Act" and "shall"; amendment No. 67 replaces the word "reviews" with "review"; and amendment No. 109 inserts a comma between the words "health professional" and "will". Since …

I thank the Senator for the support.

I do. I thank all the Senators for submitting this amendment. Senator Boyhan introduced a similar amendment on Committee Stage and we discussed it at length, we debated it at length and I set out my stall. Unfortunately, my stall has not changed, not because I do not agree with where we are coming from - and I think we will eventually come to that stage - but because the first thing is for the conventions to be adapted into national legislation, and to do so this would have to be a whole-of-government approach. As …

I thank the Senator for his very collegial words and his co-operation.

Is this the fourth Cathaoirleach who has been in the Chair?

I am still standing. I thank everyone again for the way in which the amendment has been presented. We have debated this so many times. As the Senators all know, this is something I feel extremely strongly about. Have any of the Senators ever spoken to a parent whose child was admitted to an adult unit overnight for their own safety or to save their lives? I have 100% done so. When I was here in January, I did not have all of last year's figures. Last year, there were a total of five child admissions to adult units …

There is no place in the Bill at the moment that legislates to allow a child into an adult unit. If I legislate for that, I am afraid it will make it the norm. It is not me. I am driving it from a policy level, but I have to thank all the clinicians, doctors, nurses and everybody who works in mental health and inpatient units. They are driving this. They do not want it either. I engage all the time with clinicians. I say every day of the week that I do not have a clinician's background, but I have lived experience.…

I know that. I have read the amendment, and I understand where the Senators are coming from, but in fairness they have to look at the reality in 2026 and not the reality in 2008 when we had 247 children. I do not believe we need to pre-empt a Minister of State following in my footsteps, whoever it will be and whenever that happens. This is policy embedded in the Department of Health and the HSE. This is policy that is embedded in any approved centre in Ireland, whether public, private or voluntary. This is policy t…

I am okay.

I understand that existing practice provides that if an individual who develops high-level mental health difficulties is believed to meet the criteria for involuntary admission to an approved centre or registered acute mental health centre, as they are in the new Bill, they will be transferred from prison to appropriate care setting for treatment. The Department, the HSE and I are committed to ensuring that every person receives the right care in the right place at the right time. Our policy, Sharing the Vision, in…

That will bring it to 45 suicide crisis assessment nurses, SCAN, in total in 2026. They work in the community closely with GPs. I announced six more teams. They work in pairs. One team follows on from the CAMHS team in Portiuncula Hospital to support young Travellers. There is a huge amount of presentations there. The other CAMHS team will be in Cherry Orchard in Dublin in Linn Dara. It is a new initiative to have SCANs specifically for CAMHS. I compliment them up in Donegal which I visited last summer where they d…

I thank the Senator. I have legislated for a review of this legislation. He knows that. It will be within five years of commencement, which will of course include a review of the provisions that relate to consent to admission and treatment and the autonomy of individuals generically. I do not see a need to legislate for a separate, stand-alone report. The Mental Health Commission will have oversight of this. I cannot really dictate to it as to how it will examine this but I am 100% with the Senator about people wit…

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I do not believe a stand-alone report is necessary when we are going to have a report. There is just one thing I want to tease out with the Senator, which will not take long. The Senator said that the Mental Health Commission has limited resources, but I am not sure that is the case. Any application for resources that has come to me from the Mental Health Commission in the last five years has been facilitated.

The Senator needs convincing. I am shocked.

I actually cannot believe what the Senator has stood up and just said. I actually think it is appalling. I ask the Senator to please give me a chance to respond now because he has put out a lot of commentary there that is hanging in the air. I think it is completely inappropriate and it is factually incorrect. That is the first thing. Even though the Senator has spent a lot of time here and a lot of time on the Bill what he did not say was that this Bill will ensure that ECT, electroconvulsive treatment, is only gi…

Briefly. These amendments relate to the involuntary admission of a child in section 67 of the Bill. These amendments do not change the policy behind the section. Instead, these amendments have been drafted following commentary from the Attorney General's office that additional wording in section 67 is necessary. Amendment No. 129 allows for consideration to be given to whether involuntary admission is required and whether voluntary admission is possible or if such admission will be in the best interests of the chil…

I will speak briefly. I am introducing an amendment to replace sections 74 and 75 with a new section 74. This amendment is being introduced to address operational concerns raised about some key stakeholders. The new section 74 recognises the distinct important roles of the Garda, the HSE and Tusla. Depending on the circumstances of the child, one of these three bodies will be responsible for taking charge of the child and the new section 74 recognises the different functions of each. It is an extremely rare event w…