Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. It proposes a number of positive legislative changes. In particular, it will help to ensure that when a person is in need of help, his or her basic human rights are not denied and his or her dignity and care is provided for and protected. The Bill looks to replace the existing principle of best interest under the Mental Health Act 2001 for adults but just as importantly, it seeks to reaffirm support for persons under the age of 16. The terminology, as others have noted, has been interpreted by the courts paternalistically, to the extent where the views of a doctor have been given priority over the views of service users. That interpretation has essentially removed a person's rights. This Bill will bring the Mental Health Act 2001 more into line with the progressive Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015.

The expert group that reviewed the Mental Health Act 2001 made 165 recommendations, as has been said by one speaker after another. Only one has been acted on. We need to have it outlined how the majority of those recommendations will be fast-forwarded. It is all very well talking about consolidation legislation but many of the initiatives in that review do not require legislation. It is critical that people in need are given the help and the authority to make decisions about their own care. The Bill allows for the participation by a person to form a bigger picture of what is best for that person and to guide him or her where that decision-making is needed. No two cases are going to be the same. It is important that there is that flexibility.

I want to draw attention to the issue of youth suicide, on which I have spoken a number of previous times. That is where we really outliers in Ireland. We have a very significant problem here and have the fourth highest level of youth suicide in the European Union. There is a very good, albeit flawed, strategy called Connecting for Life. A mother came to me and showed me some elements of the report she would like to see changed. She was concerned about the discussions that could happen with a trusted adult, for example, in schools. The parent mentioned that page 115 of that strategy encourages - I underline the word "encourages" - schools to deliver but that does not make this mandatory. She wanted to get across the point that we need to have in-service training for teachers in addition to a module within the teacher training programme. That is not something that needs legislation but which could be done very easily. She made the point that the problem with suicide clusters was that youngsters were talking to each other in language of emotional immaturity and that we need a wider engagement.

We need a structured coping mechanism in schools to provide that kind of engagement. She wants that kind of initiative to be made mandatory as opposed to being encouraged. She made the point that when such an initiative was taken with issues such as teen pregnancy, the HSE made a strong argument that the strategy had worked and there was evidence that the strategy had worked. That mother was someone who had been touched by this because her son unfortunately had taken his own life as a teenager. That was very raw for her when she came to me. She wanted to make sure, as far as she could, that this would not happen to another family and where there were things that could be done, they should be done. It was a simple request for it to be taken up at both in-service training and in the teacher training module. That is not something that would be hugely costly financially but when one looks at the huge devastation in individual families that experience this tragedy or at the ripple effect on the friends of the person who has taken his or her own life, it is inexcusable that something as simple as that is not made mandatory where it can make a significant difference. I hope something like that will be taken on board and acted on.

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