Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On behalf the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, and the Government, I thank Members for their contributions to this wide-ranging debate. This is an important debate which addresses our common desire to ensure the mental health service meets the highest international standards. There is no doubt that the subject of mental health, in all its aspects, rightly concerns all parties and Independent Deputies represented in the House. As such, when the particular mental health topic is legislation, it is only right and proper that all Members of the House be afforded the opportunity to have their say on how we should proceed in ensuring best practice in legislating in the area.

I thank Deputy James Browne for introducing the Bill. The area of mental health is one of the priorities of the Government and the Deputy’s ongoing work serves as a strong reminder that all stakeholders in the area want to ensure the issues are debated regularly. This point has been well made and is accepted on this side of the House. As alluded to by the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, there is extensive work under way in the Department of Health on far-reaching changes to mental health legislation, both in the short and medium term. This involves continuing work on the general scheme of a Bill to amend the Mental Health Act 2001 on the basis of the comprehensive recommendations of the expert review group, as well as Private Members' Bills focusing on mental health. In addition, there is also a process under way to refresh A Vision for Change, the national mental health policy. The oversight committee responsible for this refresh is making significant progress and it is intended that it will have completed its work by the end of the year. We are also closely following the work of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Future of Mental Health which is working to achieve cross-party agreement on the implementation of a single, long-term vision for mental health care and the direction of mental health policy in Ireland. We await with interest the publication of the committee’s final recommendations.

Additional funding in the order of approximately €200 million between 2012 and 2017 supported modernisation of mental health services in line with A Vision for Change and previous programme for Government commitments. A key focus has been the provision of additional posts to strengthen community mental health teams for adults and children. It has also been used to enhance specialist community mental health and forensic services, to increase access to counselling and psychotherapy and for suicide prevention initiatives. The Government is committed to continuing this trend of increased funding in the area as economic conditions allow.

The objective of placing physical and mental health on a par in legislation which is the stated aim of Deputy James Browne's Bill must be carefully considered to avoid unintended and undesired consequences. Without doubt, this poses challenges. Significant consultation will be necessary with all relevant stakeholders to ensure any new or amended health legislation will be effective in improving outcomes for citizens. In that regard, we should also investigate the experience in other jurisdictions in developing similar initiatives and learn lessons appropriate to our unique circumstances. We always need to be mindful of improvements in the way we attend to the mental health and welfare of citizens and amend or expand our legislation, as necessary. We also need to ensure that when the changes are made, they are the right changes and will have the intended effect. Most important, we need services to be accessible and without stigma. We need to encourage people to engage with services at the earliest opportunity and ensure the mental health service is attractive to those we want to work in it. We all accept that the service can and should improve, but in levelling unjustified criticisms we risk discouraging people who need those services from using them and those interested in working in services from applying for the many posts available.

As I said, we already have several pieces of legislation relating to mental health currently under consideration, each of which is at a different stage of progression. When enacted we will monitor the beneficial effects of these legislative changes on the full landscape of mental health services provision and will be mindful of how this affects further proposed legislation in this area including this Bill.

I assure the House that the Minister of State, Deputy Daly, and the Department of Health will review all the comments made this evening in the context of Deputy James Browne's Bill. These comments will be borne in mind as work progresses on our mental health legislation objectives and the delivery of health and personal social services.

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