Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

What can be seen in these amendments is that the Minister of State has listened to the stakeholders who have come forward. When I spoke with them, I was really struck that the concerns that they were raising were coming from a place where they wanted the best possible treatment for the patients, particularly in respect of that gap that was emerging between the involuntary admission versus the treatment. That gap needed to be addressed. I welcome that move in those areas. There are still significant concerns when it comes to any court application, but again most of that comes from a place of concern. It comes from a place of wanting the best possible outcome for the patient. We will be back again at a later point to the discuss the other areas in more detail. I wanted to put on the record that the Government has moved considerably towards meeting the concerns of the stakeholders, if not in their entirety but in a significant way.

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