Seanad debates

Wednesday, 19 February 2003

Criminal Law (Insanity) Bill 2002: Second Stage.

 

The Bill will allow a judge to ask for a psychiatric opinion almost immediately, which is very good. It has been suggested to me that the psychiatrist who comes to the court should be someone who is involved in the unit to which the person is to be referred. That seems quite sensible because there is no point in trying to refer people to units where they will not be accepted. It has also been suggested to me – I am particularly talking about summary offences – that perhaps people do not have to be sent to an in-patient centre. By the time a person has appeared in court he or she is probably back on tablets and much better with the result that admission to an institution, even for a few days, would be counter-productive. It might be possible to consider this. It frequently happens that someone recovers rapidly and the police and courts have been good in dealing with such individuals. We might consider this on Committee Stage.

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