Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 2 November 2021

Joint Committee On Health

General Scheme of the Mental Health (Amendment) Bill 2021: Department of Health

Mr. James Kelly:

Yes. The original drafting of the general scheme was based on a 2015 Government decision, which was to give effect to those 165 recommendations of the expert group. Time has moved on since 2015 as well. In 2018, we ran it by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act was passed in 2015 as well. What we have been trying to do with this piece of legislation it to take all of the recommendations from the expert group on board and also to be aware of the significant developments that have happened in the field since then. Over the past two to two and a half years, we have also had a lot of consultation with some of the key stakeholders and we have been building relationships with organisations in the NGO sector and with professional groupings, the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland and the Mental Health Commission. As Mr. Hempenstall said, we are never going to catch everything in one piece of legislation or at least not with the first stab, but what it does reflect is the broad-based consultation that we have carried on in recent years. We are happy with the shape the Bill is in right now but I am sure that something will come up during PLS or on Committee Stage that will give us a further opportunity to consider.

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