Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 December 2012
635. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Health his plans to amend the law in relation the involuntary admission; the feedback that has been provided to those who made submissions to the Mental Health Commission in relation to this matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56731/12]
View answerThe legislation which governs the involuntary admission of patients to approved centres is the Mental Health Act 2001. This Act is being reviewed at present in line with the commitment contained in the Programme for Government to review the Act "informed by human rights standards and in consultation with service users, carers and other stakeholders". The Government and I attach great importance to this review.
In June 2011, I established a Steering Group to oversee the first part of the review which included undertaking a public consultation exercise and identifying the key elements of the Act to be further examined. Over 100 submissions were made to the Steering Group and I can confirm that as part of this process, a submission was received from the person referred to by the Deputy. The Interim Report of the Steering Group on the Review of the Mental Health Act 2001 was published on 21 June 2012 and is available on my Department's website. I will also ask my officials to forward a copy of the aforementioned report to the person concerned. All of the submissions were individually acknowledged and recorded in the report.
In August this year, I announced the membership of an Expert Group to carry out the second and substantive phase of the review which is principally tasked with fleshing out the Steering Group recommendations. The Group is comprised of 15 people in total and includes expertise from a range of professionals and key stakeholder organisations.
The Expert Group has met on a number of occasions this year and is continuing its deliberations. The Group is expected to produce its report by the end of March, 2013.
