Déirdre de Búrca (Green Party)

We have had an opportunity for hearings and to invite in experts but have not done so. We are still at the point we were at last year. No reforms or changes have been made to the Mental Health Act. Senators have made very good suggestions today about the need for people with serious mental health difficulties to have advocates, for advanced directives, considering approaches that have social and psychological dimensions rather than relying on extreme, controversial biological treatments such as ECT and its involuntary use. It is important to respond to the points other people are making here. We need to take this issue more seriously. Over a year has elapsed since we introduced this Bill and unfortunately we have made very little progress.