Mary Henry (Independent)

Naturally I am delighted that the Minister accepted Deputy Ó Snodaigh's amendment and decided a prison was not a suitable place for someone being treated for psychiatric illness. I presume other changes will have to be made to the Bill because, under certain sections, it appears that persons could be treated in prison.

The governor, as the clinical director, would make clinical decisions — admittedly having been given advice by a medical practitioner — which does not seem to be in accord with amendment No. 10. This is a very important change and I am delighted it has happened.

While amendment No. 44 is also good, I have a slight concern. After a person had finished his or her sentence, perhaps having been in the Central Mental Hospital for some time, is the clinical director in the Central Mental Hospital or another designated centre required to send him or her back to prison or can the person be discharged? The Bill does not seem to make provision for such people to be discharged if they have finished their sentence. At that stage they are patients.

As the Minister of State mentioned JudgeHenchy, I am interested to see that the term "was unable to refrain from committing the act" is still used in section 5 and in another part of the Bill. I spoke at some length about the matter when debating the Bill here. Psychiatrists are not very enthusiastic about the idea that even if a policeman was standing at a person's shoulder he or she still could not refrain from committing an act. Unfortunately, I believe we will live to regret it. I believe the Minister was thinking about only very serious crimes. However, I could envisage people committing very minor crimes, like stealing a bottle of milk, claiming they were unable to prevent themselves from doing so and using this provision as a plea. When I raised the matter on Committee Stage, the Minister said that Judge Henchy was the greatest legal brain of the last century and I was not going to argue with him. Nevertheless, I hope we do not live to regret having left that plea in the Bill.