Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Cathaoirleach for convening this meeting and giving us the opportunity to take questions. I thank the witnesses who have come here today and have taken time out. It is an extremely important issue.

There is a lot to be welcomed in the Mental Health Bill that is proposed, and there is probably a consensus around that. I wish to speak about the area of involuntary admission, and I might direct this initially to the IMO and then to the other witnesses. It involves a relatively small number of people, namely, 2,000. We have a low involuntary admission rate compared with other jurisdictions. Thankfully, we have moved away from the situation 40 or 50 years ago where we were detaining people and sometimes not for the right reasons. However, there is a concern here about the ability of medical professionals to treat someone who has severe psychiatric illness and the definition of that, whether it is "mental disorder" or "mental health difficulties". I would like to hear Professor Kelly's opinion on that.