Ms Ber Grogan:

I thank the subcommittee. It is great to be here this morning. I watched the subcommittee's two sessions of pre-legislative scrutiny with the Department officials and with the Mental Health Commission. The subcommittee is doing brilliant work so far.

That was one area that I was linking back with. We commissioned the independent human rights analysis from Dr. Charles O'Mahony and Dr. Fiona Morrissey from National University of Ireland Galway, NUIG, and I checked back with the recommendations that they had made around the intermediate category and that whole area. It comes back to everything within the amending legislation and the general thrust of it, in that the intermediate category seems to have been introduced because of the grey area between voluntary and involuntary. For example, if someone were a voluntary person and there was perhaps seclusion, restraint or restrictive practices used against them, Mental Health Reform has previously said that that should be questioned whether that person is voluntary or involuntary. It is a very grey area across the board and that is why this intermediate category was introduced. From my understanding, the heads are trying to firm up what is voluntary and what is involuntary and the fact that there can be people in this in between piece.

Obviously, there are concerns that it would just widen the net of coercion. "Coercion" is a very strong word, but again, if someone does not want to be secluded or there is use of quiet time, it comes back to the main general thrust of the legislation of it being person-centred and that the person is involved in the decisions being made. If it is all done properly, we can see why the expert group recommended an intermediate category.

Similarly, in our human rights analysis and the recommendations we have, there are some recommendations around strengthening the legislation around it. There are some tweaks and things that could make it stronger, but, obviously, the Mental Health Commission members are experts in their own right as well, and that is the joy of all this pre-legislative scrutiny and hearing from as many voices as possible. If it is to give protection to people while their capacity is being questioned between voluntary and involuntary, if it is strong enough, it should work for people.