Mary Moran (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I join my colleagues in commendation. It is a proud and historic day. It is also an emotional day for all the people involved. Like my colleagues, I am keen to commend the Minister of State on all her hard work. I know of the numerous discussions that she and her expert advisers have held. Not only have they sat through five hours of debates in one sitting as well as God knows how many hours elsewhere but they have been very communicative with information and advice on the part of the Department. I thank the officials for that.

It is not perfect and I know some people will be unhappy. However, as we have said, it is a major step forward. It is also a great sign that we are acknowledging that there is work to do on both sides when it comes to examining the mental health Bill. Any day spent working on our legislation when we can remove words like "lunatic" and "imbecile" from our legislation is a proud day.

It is also a great day for the Seanad. It is a day when we should all stand up and thank God the Taoiseach did not have his way and have the House abolished. It is also a great day because an early election was not called. That was a serious concern of mine - I said as much publicly. One thing many of us were focused on was getting this legislation through and I am delighted that this day has come.

Without singling people out, I know there are people in the Gallery who have sat through the Bill. I wish to thank Inclusion Ireland. I do not wish to name names, but I thank everyone in the Gallery. There are many others I wish to thank as well. I will conclude by referring to the self-advocacy group in Inclusion Ireland. I saw a video made by one of the advocates, Adrian, last week. I know he has tweeted and told me that he is watching this, as are many people who will be affected by this legislation. We have seen the videos people have put up and we know what this Bill means to them. It is a great day for us.