Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I will give my tuppence worth now. I usually get in earlier than this. All the good questions have been asked at this stage but that is part of stepping in as Cathaoirleach today.

I will bring up something that has not been touched on yet. I agree with the statement that this is a once in a generation opportunity to positively change mental health legislation. It is probably the biggest piece of work this subcommittee will do in its lifetime. We also need to make sure we have the resources in place that will underpin, or will be the foundations of, this legislation.

Deputy Hourigan touched on the authorised officers. Last week, the Mental Health Commission said that they do much of the work. My concern is the HSE is not planning properly for this and that the law will be delayed as a result of these authorised officers not being in place. All the good work we are doing at this subcommittee and all the good work you are doing as stakeholders could be delayed because the authorised officers will not be in place.

For example, in the past couple of weeks I have been doing a little bit of digging and a bit of research on it and I tabled a couple of parliamentary questions. In 2019, there were 159 authorised officers in the State. Currently, in 2021, there are 126. The number is going down. Someone mentioned postcode politics. In my area of community health organisation, CHO, 7 it has dropped from 25 authorised officers down to 11, which seems to be the biggest decrease in any area.

We say language is important. The response I received from the HSE stated that there is a review going on and that based on this review there may be a need to recruit additional authorised officers. "May", again, is back in there. Does anyone have insights into this review? Is this Bill part of that review? What is the importance of having authorised officers in place as soon as possible? Those are my first questions for whoever wants to take them.