Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats)

I move amendment No. 60:

In page 75, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following: “(4) Where a child is involuntarily admitted to a registered adult acute mental health centre pursuant to an involuntary admission order under section 66 that this period shall be no longer than 72 hours.”.

The significant decrease in the number of admissions of children to adult psychiatric wards is very welcome. However, the absence of legislative safeguards in the Bill leaves children vulnerable to this practice becoming more widespread again in the future. Notably, concluding observations from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed serious concern about Ireland's practice of admitting children to adult psychiatric units. The Bill should explicitly prohibit the admission of children to adult units. Allowing the practice to continue is essentially legislating for the continued under-resourcing of CAMHS inpatient units by Government. As a compromise, we need at the very least a maximum period of 72 hours for such admissions. That would allow for emergency situations at weekends and so on.

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