Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 5 April 2022

Joint Committee On Health

General Scheme of the Mental Health (Amendment) Bill 2021: Discussion (Resumed)

Mr. John Farrelly:

My one concluding remark is to thank the committee for the opportunity and for bringing us back. I also emphasise that we have a collaborative group of people in Ireland who are acting in good faith. I know that sometimes during these committee meetings it can look as though there are diverse opinions and a crash-bang, but that is not how it is. Essentially, we have significantly good clinicians in Ireland who are making points, for example, about involuntary admission. We respect that and we will work with them. We have a lovely, high-intensity voluntary sector that I admire for the work it does. Our health service is also trying to do well. As a regulator, we try to be impartial but we very rarely get the opportunity to say that it is nice to be part of a process in this country where we can discuss things like this in a respectful way. I thank the committee for that opportunity. I wish it well with its report.