Professor Jim Lucey:

The urgency in what the Deputy says is commendable. "Can something be done now?" is the question of every parent in this difficulty, many of the children in this difficulty and young people. The answer is "Yes". The current legislation would allow the Mental Health Commission to be given the powers not just to inspect but actually to see that people are held to a standard. The Deputy asks what we would do if we were given these powers. I think I speak for the commission on this. We would begin by agreeing a standard across the country. There are international models we could use. We would get an agreement around those and then see that those standards were met. The report would therefore look very different because it would be tested against an agreed template of standards, and there is no such template now.