I welcome the Minister of State and thank her for coming to the House at this late hour.
The long-awaited Mental Health Act was passed this summer. It was necessary to introduce the legislation because we were in great trouble with the European Court of Human Rights regarding the detention of people within our mental hospitals The legislation under which we were working at that stage and, unfortunately, under which we continue to work had been found by the European Court of Human Rights to be an aberration. It was introduced 50 years ago when psychiatry was not the discipline it is now. As the Minister of State is aware, huge progress has been made in that area of medicine and great changes, therefore, had to be made in our treatment of patients in mental hospitals.
The legislation under which we were working, which we were obliged to change and under which we continue to work, had no mechanism whereby a patient who had been involuntarily admitted to a mental hospital could have his or her admission or case reviewed. There was no method whereby he or she could initiate his discharge, even if those responsible for this care within the mental hospital considered that there was no further need for him or her to remain.
The main feature of the Mental Health Act, 2001, is that it deals with involuntary admissions. I recall that the Labour Party sought to have the Title changed to the involuntary admissions Bill. However, the Act also deals with a number of other important areas. While the legislation has been enacted, none of its provisions has been implemented by the Minister. This is leading to great difficulties for both patients and those working in the profession. Involuntarily detained patients are objecting to their detention before the courts on a weekly basis. I am sure the Minister of State is aware of this from reports in the press. Senator Farrell complained last week about the fact that psychiatrists are releasing patients out of hospital who, when discharged, are committing violent crimes. The Senator has a point, but, unfortunately, psychiatrists are not in a posi tion to detain those who have been involuntarily admitted because, as has been shown, this is an area fraught with legal difficulties.
I invested a great deal of time and effort in the debate on the Mental Health Act and it is dreadful that, four months after its passage, we continue to operate under the old legislation. Surely we should implement some of the provisions contained in the Act. It is difficult for those of us involved in this area to know the reason there has been such a delay. What makes matters worse is that we were promised that after the Act was passed, immediate action would be taken to bring legislation before the Houses of the Oireachtas regarding mentally ill people who are before the courts and being held in custody. However, nothing has happened in that regard. Mentally ill people are coming before the courts and not being appropriately dealt with. The European Court of Human Rights has already stated that we are in breach of its regulations in this area.
I hope the Minister of State will provide a sensible reply. I have been trying to discover from the Department the reason for the delay, but have not received an adequate response.
