Mary Henry (Independent)

When he was here, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform said how much he admired Mr. Justice Henchy, whom he described as the greatest legal brain of the last century. Mr. Justice Henchy stressed that the prisoner could become a patient. That is one of the reasons I feel so strongly about the matter. I want the prisoner to be treated as a patient once it is recognised that he or she is a patient.

The Minister of State talked about tradition. For goodness' sake, if traditional practices are wrong, they should change. I am sorry about Deputy Lenihan's remarks. The Bill is entirely Deputy McDowell's. When he was here, he did not say a word about tradition. All that he said was that he liked the word "insanity" because everyone knows what it means. The Minister did not say anything about tradition.