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Proposed Legislation

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 April 2019

Wednesday, 3 April 2019

Ceisteanna (172)

Pat Buckley

Ceist:

172. Deputy Pat Buckley asked the Minister for Health the status of the redrafting of the Mental Health Act 2001; the date the heads of Bill will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15583/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

The Expert Group Review of the Mental Health Act 2001, which was published in 2015, put forward 165 recommendations. Approximately 70% of these relate to amendments to the 2001 Act.  The Deputy will be aware that Government approved plans to proceed with the general scheme of a bill and officials are working on the heads of this comprehensive amending bill which will legislate for the recommendations of the Review.

Draft heads of Bill are expected to be finalised in the coming weeks and submitted to the Mental Health Commission for detailed review. It is essential that the Mental Health Commission, which has a very significant and important role in overseeing the safeguards provided in the Act, has full input into the framing of the many amendments to be included in revised mental health legislation.

Since the Expert Group Review was published three mental health amendment acts have been enacted.  The first was the Mental Health (Amendment) Act 2015 which updated the provisions of the 2001 Act regarding treatment, in particular ECT. The second was the more recent enactment of the Mental Health (Amendment) Act 2018 which makes changes to the 2001 Act regarding the definition of voluntary patient and which introduces guiding principles for adults instead of the principle of best interests. The Act also introduces guiding principles for children and refers to capacity within the meaning of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015. It is important to point out, however, that the provisions of the 2018 amending act cannot be commenced until further legislative changes are made and the Decision Support Service, established under the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act is operational.  The changes in these two acts are based on a number of different recommendations of the Expert Group Review.

The third amending act is the Mental Health (Renewal Orders) Act 2018, which amended Section 15 of the 2001 Act following on from a Court of Appeal finding of unconstitutionality. 

In addition, changes to, or that have an effect on, the 2001 Act will be introduced as part of the new Deprivation of Liberty provisions currently being developed by my Department and also through changes proposed for the Child Care Act 1991.  Finally, there are four Private Member's Bills published which seek to make changes to or that have an effect on the 2001 Act.

Many of the changes proposed in the various private members bills replicate recommendations of the Expert Group Review.

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