Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I congratulate Senator Boyle on having this legislation passed by the Seanad. It now goes to the other House and, hopefully, during the course of the next few months the Minister of State and her colleagues in government will reflect deeply on this legislation. We send forth to the other House a strong message as to how the legislation should proceed and the strong view that it is not only appropriate but humane, balanced and fair. It was interesting to listen to the Minister of State yesterday when she spoke about the possible introduction, hopefully in the near future, of mental capacity legislation. That whole area will be of significant importance in the life of the next Government. This is a mental health Bill. It is interesting that Deputy Lynch is the Minister of State with responsibility in this area because when she gets up every morning in city of Cork and looks across the brow of the hill she can see the old Cork mental hospital.

During the preliminary debate yesterday I spoke about the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. In the city and county of Cork when people think of mental health they think of St. Anne's and Our Lady's hospitals. We want the future of mental health care to be a million miles removed from that sad era of a different type of care and analysis of mental health and mental capacity. I hope this legislation is part of the changing trends and attitudes. I strongly commend Senator Boyle for bringing the legislation before the House. In the long-standing tradition of the Seanad it has been debated in a balanced, fair and political - with a small "p" - way. I wish the Minister of State well as she reflects on the legislation and presumably brings forward important mental health legislation during the lifetime of the new Government. I congratulate Senator Boyle on having the Bill passed.