Dan Boyle (Green Party)

The personal commitment of the Minister of State to these issues is recognised by all in the House. The document, A Vision for Change, is acknowledged as progressive and the frustration is due to the delay in implementing it fully. However, the Minister's renewed commitment and the support he is receiving from the Cabinet must be acknowledged. My colleague, Senator Ó Brolcháin, has pointed to the difficulty with the staffing moratorium. As mental health services are more human resource dependent than other areas of the health service, the Minister of State needs every support in dealing with the matter.

I take this opportunity to reinforce that support. The Green Party in this House has placed particular emphasis on mental health. While I thank the Minister of State for organising the recent seminars, I urge him to accept that there is a necessity to make progress on section 59(b) of the Mental Health Act and the concept of coercive treatment for people who do not have the capacity to give informed consent to that treatment. The support he has given to the process of examining this issue should be seen in the context of the overall review of the Mental Health Act and the document, A Vision for Change, which is patient-centred. I hope the House collectively, through the office of the Minister of State, will see a degree of legislative change that will make this area less uncertain and less of a lottery for those who find themselves in the position where they are given treatment which they might not choose to have. My party and I will be happy if that is one of the results of the review.

In general, the Minister of State deserves to be commended for his overall approach. There is renewed confidence that the principle behind A Vision for Change can be achieved, when in recent years it had appeared that the policy document might be veering towards a longer timeframe.