Seanad debates

Wednesday, 19 February 2003

Criminal Law (Insanity) Bill 2002: Second Stage.

 

The Minister said there are medico-legal issues at stake. I can assure him I have been receiving much representation regarding this matter. His contribution helped to explain some of the differences in the definitions of mental disorder in the Bill and in the Mental Health Act 2001. Both the Minister and Senator Kett referred to the issue of personality disorder and its treatability. I attended a meeting of the Irish Penal Reform Trust before Christmas which dealt with the treatability of personality disorders. It was attended by some psychiatrists and psychologists from England who seemed to give some hope on that front. However, the majority of experts say that such people are untreatable and are only disruptive in the institutions in which they are placed.

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