Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

According to my briefing, that convention is the responsibility of the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan. The existing legislation does not provide procedural safeguards to ensure individuals are not unlawfully deprived of their liberty. The draft legislative proposals that I published for public consultation last December are designed to address this gap by providing safeguards for older people, persons with a disability and some categories of people with a mental illness to ensure they are not unlawfully deprived of their liberty in certain residential facilities. The development of these deprivation-of-liberty legislative provisions is a highly complex undertaking. I mentioned this earlier. In addition to satisfying the requirements of the CRPD, the provisions must also align – this is probably related to the Deputy's question – with our obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and existing legislation, such as the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act and the Mental Health Act. I am continuing to progress this legislation as a matter of priority. The direct answer to the Deputy's question is that the target date for finalisation of the heads is the autumn.