Mr. James Kelly:

We put that in because we do not want a situation whereby if somebody needs to be involuntarily detained, they cannot be because there is no authorised officer available. We have had some initial discussions with the HSE as to how much that might cost per year, to fully staff enough authorised officers on a 24-7 basis in all 26 counties across the community health organisations. The preliminary discussion has already started and it may be the case that we may need to expand. At the moment, specific grades within the HSE can become authorised officers. We may need to go back to that to see if we can expand this to include other grades that are similarly qualified. This would expand the pool of people available. It would be an industrial relations issue also for the HSE in some respects because the HSE would have people working on call on a 24-7 basis.

There are issues to be worked through but they are not insurmountable. Limiting the authorised officers as being the only group of people who can make an application for involuntary detention is a very positive move. It allows that person to act as an impartial third party so that we are not disrupting the ratios between family members such as between mothers and sons, siblings, husbands and wives, and so on. It is a key piece. The HSE is aware of this, and it is also in the programme for Government. We are very committed to getting it right. With regard to the delay, we were thinking that it might be six months, for example. It would not be a substantial delay. It would just be to make sure that the structures are in place. As soon as we have an idea of the final shape of the Bill and when it might be passed, it will be one of the key priorities in the implementation phase before everything has to be commenced.