Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

The Bill as initiated separates the definition of "mental disorder" from the criteria for involuntary admission. Following consultation, as I said, with stakeholders after publication, the definition will be amended to read:

"mental disorder" means, in relation to a person, any mental [disorder] illness or mental health difficulty [or disability], whether of a continuous or intermittent nature, which seriously affects the person’s thinking, perception, emotion, mood or judgement leading to significant impairment of the mental function of the person

We have spent hours discussing this. I was not able to see it all, but I listened to this morning's health committee meeting and was struck by what Deputy Martin Daly said. We talk about mental disorder, but this Bill will support the most vulnerable in society: those who are involuntarily detained and are extremely ill. Not everybody who receives mental health supports is classified as having a mental disorder. There might be a time when such people are clinically depressed. They might be self-harming or suicidal. They might have an eating disorder or a dual diagnosis, but that does not mean they will have it for the rest of their life. Where we trying to come from with the term "mental disorder" is that a huge proportion of this Bill deals with involuntary detention of a very small cohort of people who might not have consented. At that stage, they certainly could have a mental disorder.

As I said, if a suitable alternative were proposed, I would be open to discussing it and looking at it. As regards "psychosocial disability", the amended definition will remove the term "disability" from the definition. Intellectual disability is already excluded as grounds for involuntary detention where there is not a co-existing mental health disorder that meets the criteria for detention. The OPC thought that might be problematic for that reason. This amendment will provide absolute clarity. I was struck by the fact that the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland, whose members mostly deal with people with a mental disorder, were comfortable, although I do not think anybody would be entirely comfortable with the wording, with the wording currently being used. As I said, if there were another suggestion that would suit exactly what we are trying to do with the Bill, I would be quite happy to look at it, but we have spent hours and hours trying to come up with another word in relation to this.

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