Mr. John Farrelly:

It has been a very positive experience because we are clear that people should not be deprived of their liberty unless they absolutely have to be and that their rights should be vindicated. Working with the Department and tribunal staff, our staff, led by my head of legal affairs, did good work.

On the lessons learned, the biggest worry concerned people going into centres. Many of our panel members tend to be older and there were worries about them going in because they might have secondary conditions. It actually worked very well. We have to analyse it even more. The little worry we have concerns making sure patients' rights are absolutely vindicated in terms of a solicitor representing them. Maybe we need to consider this. We are learning all the time but in this instance the HSE performed well in this area.