Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Mental Health Commission has the expertise in this area. As I said, even if we were in this legislation proposing the establishment of a new agency we would still be looking to the Mental Health Commission to do it for us. The Mental Health Commission has the expertise and knowledge required to do this. It has been doing this type of work since its establishment. The mental health commissioners are the ones who know what this means. They will also, in the context of the transfer of the DSS, address the issue of stigma, which is a huge problem in relation to mental health specifically. This Bill deals also with issues outside of the mental health area. As I said, the Mental Health Commission has the expertise in this area. It operates from a strictly human rights basis, which is what this legislation is about, centrally.

As I said, even if we were establishing a stand-alone agency we would be asking the Mental Health Commission to assist us in that regard. However, we cannot do what the Deputies' propose.

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