John Gilroy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have spent many occasions on my feet in the House referring to mental health issues, including one area in particular, section 58 of the Mental Health Act. It allows for the non-consensual administration of electroconvulsive therapy to patients. This needs to be repealed urgently. The Minister of State has given some indication that she is disposed towards repealing it.

Section 58(2) of the same Act begins: "Where it is proposed to perform psycho-surgery on a patient..." Section 58(6) defines psycho-surgery: "In this section "psycho-surgery" means any surgical operation that destroys brain tissue or the functioning of brain tissue and which is performed for the purposes of ameliorating a mental disorder." It is absolutely obscene in this day and age that such a section exists in any statute. Psycho-surgery was discredited as a treatment for mental illness in the 1950s. I call on the acting leader to bring this part of the Mental Health Act to the attention of the Minister of State immediately with a view to repealing what I consider to be an absolutely barbaric section, as would any reasonable person.