Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 278:

In page 160, after line 13, to insert the following:

“PART 8

AMENDMENT OF ACT OF 2015

Amendment of section 2 of Act of 2015

203. Section 2 of the Act of 2015 is amended, in subsection (1)—

(a) by the deletion of the definition of “Act of 2001”, and

(b) by the insertion of the following definition:

“ ‘Act of 2025’ means the Mental Health Act 2025;”.”.

These amendments are placed in new Parts 8 and 9 of the Bill and relate exclusively to references to the Mental Health Act in other enactments. As the Mental Health Act 2001 will be repealed in due course with the full commencement of this enactment, it was necessary to ensure that all references to the Mental Health Act are updated. It was also necessary to update definitions used in the Mental Health Act, which are changing, such as the definition of "mental disorder", "approved centre", "clinical director", the "Commission", and the "Inspector". These amendments update these definitions in other enactments. The amendments also provide for further amendments to the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015. Significant work has gone into making sure this enactment interacts appropriately with the 2015 Act. Officials in the Department will continue to work with their counterparts in the Department of Children, Disability and Equality ahead of Report Stage to progress any further necessary amendments.

An important amendment I would like to highlight is amendment No. 212, which provides for an amendment to section 23 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997. This amendment was included in the Bill as initiated in section 201 but has been moved. This amendment will allow young people aged 16 and 17 years to consent to or refuse mental health treatment on the same basis as physical health. As this is the final grouping, I would like to flag that I will move a number of amendments on Report Stage. I have mentioned these amendments at various points over the past few weeks. These amendments primarily relate to the interaction between this enactment and the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006, the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015, the Child Care Act 1991 and the Family Courts Act 2024. A number of amendments are being prepared in relation to Part 4 on children to take better account of the Child Care Act, as well as to improve those sections following continued consultation with stakeholders since the Bill's publication. Consultation has been ongoing with officials in the Department of justice and the Department of children. As I mentioned last week, I have asked officials in the Department to consider drafting an amendment to prohibit the administration of ECT on children and young people. That work is under way. There may also be consequential amendments to the Bill to move references to section 83 elsewhere in the Bill, the section on ECT, as this section was deleted last week. We are making sure all the i's are dotted and t's crossed in that regard. Officials in the Department will continue to liaise with stakeholder on the amended consent to treatment provision in Part 3, Chapter 3, and provisions related to regulation in Part 6. I will move any further amendments required for that Chapter on Report Stage.

Technical amendments to the titles of two Ministers which have changed since publication will be required throughout the Bill. I understand further readings of the Bill will be undertaken by officials in the Department and the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and there many be minor amendments arising from these readings but not in relation to policy.

I will move amendments to set out transitional arrangements to allow for the smooth transition from the existing legislative regime under the Mental Health Act 2001 to the new enactment.

I thank the Deputies who have been present for the past three weeks and those here again today for this landmark legislation to update and modernise our mental health laws. The enactment of this Bill has been a long-standing priority for me and the Government. I thank everyone for their co-operation and interest. I look forward to working with colleagues in the Dáil and Seanad to progress towards enactment.

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