Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 16 November 2021

Joint Committee On Health

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

Mr. John Farrelly:

I will start and then ask the inspector to come in on the matter. We just need to be clear that restrictive practices, such as physical restraint, etc., are not therapeutic. They are not treatments for people. It can very often be accepted culturally that somehow people with mental illness can be treated differently from people with other illnesses. All we wanted to say was that at certain times, and I will ask Mr. Kiernan to speak on this as well, there is no doubt that restrictive practices are needed, but we do not want anyone setting out that they are somehow part of a therapeutic treatment for mental health. They are a last resort. We have strong rules and codes around them and we should only use them if we have to. We did not want such practices confused with somehow being part of the therapeutic treatment for mental health. They are, rather, a last resort. Maybe I-----

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