Joint Committee on Public Petitions and the Ombudsmen to discuss petition seeking ‘Reform Irish Mental Health Services’

The public meeting of the Committee will begin at 2.30pm in Committee Room 4 of Leinster House and will hear from the petitioner, Mr Eoin O’Sullivan, Founder and Managing Director Peace Inside.

Committee Cathaoirleach Deputy Martin Browne said: “This petition is seeking a number of reforms to Ireland’s mental health services. These include that counselling, psychotherapy and psychological services are deemed an eligible expense for tax relief in line with other health expenses in order to cut costs and give more people the chance of benefiting from those services; that the opening of the registers for counsellors and psychotherapists be completed with urgency; and that counselling and psychotherapy services, which currently incur VAT at 13.5 per cent, become VAT exempt. The Committee looks forward to discussing this important petition with Mr O’Sullivan.

“Members will also consider a petition seeking ‘the reduction of the size of Russia's diplomatic representation in Ireland’. Other petitions for discussion concern the ‘Kiltamagh Water Scheme’, ‘Carrick On Shannon Tree Removal’, the ‘Urgent need for the regulation of Physician Associates by CORU’ and ‘Follow the New Zealand Tobacco Initiative.’

The Joint Committee on Public Petitions and the Ombudsmen is a standing Committee of the Houses of the Oireachtas and has 11 Members, seven from the Dáil and four from the Seanad.

The meeting in the Committee Room 4 can be viewed live on Oireachtas TV.

Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.