Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

People are waiting on this legislation to be enacted. We are all conscious of this having been lobbied by and met with the people involved who, while not a large group, are a sincere group of people whose relatives, perhaps sons, husbands, wives and so on could, but for a lack of legislation, be at home with their families at Christmas.

As Deputy Neville correctly said, language changes attitudes. When speaking down through the years about language and how it affects different groups of people, I recall being told that one cannot change attitudes. That may be true. However, Jack Straw once said: "I cannot change your attitude but I can ensure that your attitude doesn't detrimentally affect someone else". That is the kernel of the problem. If our language contributes to someone's attitude then we need to change it. Language does change attitudes.

We can all recall a time when children born outside of marriage were referred to as "illegitimate" and worse but we changed the language and in doing so we changed attitudes. The big issue in regard to mental health is fear. The fear is not that someone who is mentally unwell will jump out of a press and attack us but that mental illness could strike any of us. The fear is that anyone could end up among this group of people who are stigmatised.

We are producing new legislation and must surely ensure we get this right. This is good legislation, which Deputy Neville and I are anxious is passed in the House tonight. However, we must ensure we get it right. To continue to refer to people as they are referred to in this legislation is wrong. We should not refer to people who commit crimes while suffering a mental illness as "insane". What we are seeking does not change the terms of the legislation or how we treat these people and so on. What it will do is change attitudes towards people who find themselves in this position. If my next-door neighbour has a mental illness or is insane, how I say or react to that matters. Language is a powerful tool. It is said that the only thing that truly changes the world is an idea. Language is something of which we should be conscious and in regard to which we can do something in this instance.

Like Deputy Neville, I do not wish to hold up this legislation. I am interested to hear the Minister of State's response.

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