Mary Henry (Independent)

I move amendment No. 25:

In page 51, line 5, to delete "a person of unsound mind" and substitute the following:

"a person suffering from a mental disorder as defined under the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006".

We have already had a considerable amount of discussion this evening about mental illness and psychiatric conditions. I am mindful of the words of the judge Senator Norris already quoted to the effect that we should use unambiguous terms. The phrase "of unsound mind" is open to many interpretations, which may be the reason it is used. If a person is of unsound mind we will take away his or her ability to earn a living as a gun dealer. What does the phrase mean? If someone thinks a gun dealer is a bad-tempered old recluse they can label him "of unsound mind" and stop him from running his shop, which he may have run very well and reputably for a very long time.

Most of the references I have seen to the phrase "unsound mind" come from very old legislation, perhaps dating from 1925 or 1945. I am aware that it is widely used but the definition I propose would at least be more easy to look at in court. As the Minister knows, people of a psychiatric disposition are capable of arguing a case and I foresee the phrase "unsound mind" being the subject of much controversy.

I am very disappointed that, in the miscellaneous provisions of this Bill, the Minister did not remove the anomaly in section 13 of the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006. When section 3 was amended in the Dáil, in agreement with a proposal of mine when the Bill was before the Seanad that a prison not be a psychiatric centre, I was very pleased. However, section 13(1) provides that the governor of a prison, on the advice of an approved medical officer, be given the powers and duties of a clinical director. I suggest we include the deletion of that section in the miscellaneous part of the Bill before us today.

It is unfair to cause a person to lose his or her livelihood on such an ambiguous phrase as "of unsound mind". It is not psychiatric terminology.