asked the Minister for Health if he will amend the law whereby committed alcoholics can be released from mental homes if the resident medical officers so decide without reference to the person who made the commitment.
Written Answers. - Mental Home Releases.
188.
Under existing statutory provisions, when a person, including an alcoholic, detained as a private patient is fit for discharge from a mental hospital the person paying for his hospital care must be informed. Where other detained patients are concerned, the person in charge of the hospital must inform a relative. In both instances the patient, if not removed within seven days, will, in any event, be discharged.
I would not be prepared to amend the law so as to provide that discharge could only be with the consent of a relative or other person. I assume that this is what the Deputy has in mind. I would like to emphasise that the existing arrangements have been devised to safeguard the freedom of the individual.