Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 11 June 2025

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Mental Health Bill 2024: Discussion

2:00 am

Ms Orla Keane:

On the last question, I hope there will not be a necessity for all of these court applications. First, if section 49, which has now become section 47, is tweaked a little further, then people can be treated for 21 days and a second 21 days. Usually, during that period, although I am not a clinician, people who have not had capacity or do not think they have capacity can regain capacity and engage with treatment. In that event, the necessity for either having an application to the Circuit Court or the High Court should fall away. I do not think anybody wants a system where people are going to the Circuit Court or the High Court. The avenue to the Circuit Court is where people are deemed to have long-term capacity issues or lack of capacity and they would then be appointed decision supporters under the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act. That is what it is hoped the plan will be. On the applications to the High Court, the commission has its own view, which is that if somebody has capacity, you should not be applying to the High Court to apply treatment. I know my clinical colleagues here may not agree with that. The plan would be that if the person is receiving treatment for 21 days or the second 21 days, the requirement to apply to the courts should hopefully fall away.

I have forgotten the second question.