Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend Deputy Browne and welcome this legislation. Sinn Féin supports the amendment as moved by the Minister of State and I join in congratulating him on his appointment to what is a very challenging and important brief. I have no doubt but that he will go at it with considerable vigour and will bring much positivity to the role.

Progress in mental health reform has been painfully slow and the challenges are great. This legislation will be a step in the right direction for many but we all recognise it is merely a single step. I commend the work of Mental Health Reform and acknowledge its tremendous advocacy on behalf of people with mental health difficulties. I recognise and commend the many NGOs and community organisations in communities throughout the country that have become the difference between life and death for many people in many circumstances. The acknowledgment of people's autonomy is the key to advocacy work. They have the right to make decisions regarding the services they access and the care they need but for too many patients, this has not been their experience.

Far too many people feel coerced, disempowered and unsupported. This is how incredibly vulnerable people can feel on admission to a psychiatric inpatient unit in Ireland today.

This morning, I want to add my voice, and the voice of my party, to the demand by Mental Health Reform that the Government must now deliver on the recommendations of the expert group on the Mental Health Act. There is a very real and long-term cost to kicking this can down the road any further. Individuals and their families will continue to travel an unnecessary path of very deep distress and hopelessness, and this, in a modern country like ours, is absolutely avoidable and absolutely unacceptable. The human and economic cost is tenfold and society as a whole is all the worst for it.

Our State does not have a proud record on how we have treated vulnerable people, so when patients use words like "coerced" to describe their experience of psychiatric inpatient care, we as policy makers, legislators and Ministers need to sit up and take notice. When I spoke on this legislation during mental health month, I called for advocacy services to be independent and fully resourced. I argued that these services must be placed on a statutory footing so that every patient is guaranteed codified enforceable legal rights. Patients must have a statutory right to advocacy, and I repeat this call this morning.

Funding for advocacy services must meet demand. We need a dedicated service for children, and this must be underpinned in law and vigorously enforced. Research demonstrates that a robust advocacy system can be an empowering and encouraging experience, and, most importantly, a critical aid on the road to recovery. Having someone in their corner can be everything to people who feel they have reached the end of the road. It is now time for an ambitious programme of mental health reform, an underpinning of patient’s rights and real resourcing of services and supports. As we approach budget time in the autumn, let it be understood by everyone, particularly those Ministers with their hands on the purse strings, that we need more money. We simply need more funding for mental health services.

I have a word of caution following the establishment yesterday of the Oireachtas committee on mental health, which I welcome. Committee members will be duty bound to deliver progressive rights-based priorities for mental health, but the committee members will be fighting with two hands tied behind their backs if the Government does not commit itself now to acting urgently on the committee’s recommendations. The committee cannot be a talking shop. We want this committee to make a real and substantive contribution to improving mental health services in Ireland. This can be the case, but we know it will only happen if the Government collectively commits itself to this process. We welcome and support the legislation. We will move some amendments in the Seanad.

See this speech in context