Dan Boyle (Green Party)

The amendment of sections 4 and 13 of the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006 through this Bill is a welcome reform. As regards section 4, in particular, any doubt as to whether we are compliant with Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights needs to be removed. I am sure everyone in the House will see this as a progressive reform.

I note what has been said by Senator Bacik, and the Minister of State has indicated that there will possibly be further amendments to that section to remove that doubt even further. The introduction of the new plea, "not guilty by reason of insanity" to replace the existing "guilty but insane" and a new plea, "guilty but with diminished responsibility" go some way towards removing uncertainty in this area as well. Language can be pejorative, and much of the legislation that governed both mental health and areas of justice affecting mental health until very recently was based on 19th century legislation where terms such as "idiots" and "imbeciles" were very much a part of the corpus of those laws. The actual term, "insanity", is pejorative. While I realise it has a precise legal meaning, there will come a time in future legislation, I believe, when the term will have to be looked at and changed. The plea of diminished responsibility in relation to murder and the fact that we will need to look at the whole issue of capacity in any event in future legislation means we shall have a wider debate on this.

As regards section 13 and the changes proposed there, again there has been a degree of uncertainty. The improvement of mechanisms that will allow people to be released from the Central Mental Hospital on the basis of enforceable conditions will be seen by many as a progressive move and necessary in terms of liberalising legislation in this area. There will be very little disagreement, I believe, as regards the extent and type of changes being proposed in this Bill. However, it raises the wider question in regard to the grey area between justice and mental health policy. I am glad the Minister of State is present for this debate as I am aware he is personally committed to an ongoing review of the Mental Health Act, and proposals will be forthcoming in relation to this.

I have already mentioned legislation as regards capacity. It is very important that we look at the wider aspect of debates in this area and introduce the necessary reforms. Of course all we are doing is improving the legal mechanisms as regards mental incapacity and breaches of individual laws. The other side of this is the infrastructure that is in place to deal with it. Everyone accepts the Central Mental Hospital is not fit for purpose, needs to be moved to a new location and provided with facilities more in keeping with a modern psychiatric facility. Any delay in this, even if it were imposed by the lack of resources, would not do us proud in meeting the psychiatric needs of people who are imprisoned in the current facility.

I hope the review of the Mental Health Act will address the wider issue of the inconsistency of the grey area concerning mental capacity and those affected who find themselves in the judicial process. The only remedy so far for them has been incarceration in a facility far from being fit for purpose. If anything, it is not an alternative but a worse version of the prison system. I hope every effort will be made to alleviate this situation.

How does the Minister of State see this Bill fitting in with the other legislation in this area that will have to come to the House before the end of the Government's term? Has he a timetable for when these legislative loose ends will be tied up?

I thank the Minister of State for his initiative in providing in-house seminars for Members about section 59(1)(b) of the Mental Health Act 2001, the first of which will be held next week. The provisions of section 59(1)(b) have formed the basis of a Private Members' Bill that I and colleagues have put before the House. It is also important to have an ongoing debate on how we deal with mental capacity and treat people with psychiatric conditions with dignity.

I welcome the legislation and look forward to seeing the additional amendments the Minister of State will put forward. I believe the amended Bill will be all the better for these reforms. The sooner this legislation is enacted, the better as it will eliminate any uncertainties that continue to exist.