John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Before dealing with the amendment I wish to recognise the contributions made on this Bill. Rather than making a glib comment later in the debate, when I refer to wider consideration at a later stage, I mean this year rather than down the road. I do not wish Senators to think I am trying to delay dealing with any of the issues. We need to deal with issues which require urgent legislation and for the designation of centres other than the Central Mental Hospital. I assure Senators that most of the wider issues will be dealt with later this year.

The Bill was amended on Committee Stage to give the Minister for Health and Children the power to designate psychiatric centres other than the Central Mental Hospital for the examination of persons referred by the District Court under section 4 of the 2006 Act in cases where a question of fitness to be tried arises. This amendment goes further by providing that higher courts may send persons to be examined in centres other than the Central Mental Hospital. However, such cases can involve serious offences and, therefore, there may be security risks and issues involved. This amendment would involve a far-reaching change to the current provisions, requiring careful examination. The Bill's purpose is to make several amendments to the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006. These have been kept to a minimum because the legislation is urgently required to deal with the issue of conditional discharge of patients from the Central Mental Hospital. The wider issues related to the 2006 Act may warrant examination but the intention is to deal with them in a planned comprehensive review of the Act to be carried out by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in consultation with the Department of Health and Children later this year. The issues raised by this and other Report Stage amendments would be more suitably considered in this review.

I indicated on Committee Stage I would bring these matters to the attention of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and I am pleased the Minister has agreed these issues will be on the agenda for examination in the course of the review. Accordingly, it would not be appropriate to provide for the amendment in this Bill and, therefore, I cannot accept it.