Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is a great pleasure for me to second motion on Second Stage of the Mental Health (Amendment) Bill 2017. I join Senator Catherine Ardagh in complimenting Deputy James Browne on the Trojan work he has done to date to get the Bill to this point. While it gives me great pleasure to support the proposal, it aggrieves me that many of the contents of the Bill are only being introduced in 2017. One would have thought that these basic human rights would already be in situin our society and that legislation of this nature would not be need to be introduced in 2017. The Bill would make certain significant changes to strengthen the rights of people when in hospital to receive mental health care. It would support the right of inpatients to make decisions on their treatment by linking the Mental Health Act 2001 with recent law which affirms that everyone should be presumed to have the capacity to make decisions and should be given the support they need to make such decisions.

In addition to making some valuable improvements, the Bill is important because it highlights the need to amend the Mental Health Act 2011 in full and the seriousness of the continued violations of the human rights of people who are being treated in hospital for mental health difficulties. To date, just one of the 165 recommendations made in the report of the expert group that reviewed the 2001 Act has been implemented. The Government has failed repeatedly to meet its own timetable for updating the Act in question. The enactment of this legislation would be a positive step towards achieving the full amendment of the 2001 Act in line with the recommendations made by the expert group on mental health reform. It could contribute in some part to the Government's fulfilment of international human rights law, including the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It is clear that the 2001 Act is not compliant with either convention.

I would have liked to have seen much greater emphasis on mental health services in the Budget Statement yesterday. The enactment of many of the items included in this legislation would not be severe from a monetary point of view. It would have been nice if a greater contribution to the mental health service had been made. We all know of horrific stories within our own families or circles of friends. If we do not know those affected personally, we read and hear about cases that depict how people suffering from mental health problems are treated in the health service.I know of cases where people who suffer from mental health issues have been in the care of the health service, not for the treatment of their specific diagnosis but for other health issues, and the treatment they received has often been impaired due to the fact that they suffer from a mental health disorder.

It gives me great pleasure to second the Bill but it is unfortunate in this era that we are only reaching the stage of its introduction in 2017. It should have been happened a long time ago.