Ms Moninne Griffith:

On the issue of consent for mental health services, currently in Ireland a person who is 16 years of age can consent to surgical and medical treatment. In theory one can consent to having plastic surgery but not consent to accessing a counsellor or mental health treatment. This is a huge disparity. If access was standardised it would benefit young people and health care professionals. If everyone knew that at 16 years old a young person can consent to whatever health care they need, that would help.

It would make a big difference in the case of young LGBTI people because there are very young people who are being prevented from accessing mental health care services, some of which are youth friendly, free and open to other young people, such as Jigsaw and Pieta House. These facilities still cannot open up their services to young people under the age of 18 without parental consent. Some of these young people are most vulnerable because they are not out to their parents or the parents themselves have mental health issues, addiction problems or are not available to give the consent. Standardising the age of consent for mental health services to the age of 16 would make it easier for these very vulnerable young people to access health care. It would also clear up this vagueness and grey area for health care professionals.