Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to reiterate what Senator Freeman has said. They target children of any age from three years and I have seen young children aged three playing Gummy Bears games. There is a sweet, cuddly image but there are also "Buy More" tokens at the end of each game, and it builds up and up. This happens to children from three years of age. When my son was one of those Xbox or Playstation guys, sitting in his bedroom playing it non-stop, he borrowed a game from a friend. When I went to watch it, I found it awful. It was one of those games where people were shooting each other and, in one instance, they pushed a woman over - a caricature, obviously - and started kicking her between the legs. I sat aghast and I immediately stopped it, but I could not get over the fact that had got through censorship and everything else. It was for 16 year olds and he was only 14, so he did not get it at that stage. However, that sort of imagery stayed in my mind.

I want to propose an amendment to the Order of Business that we take an amendment to the Health Act 1970 with regard to involuntary psychiatric patients and the charges paid to the HSE. I have become aware that up to 2,500 patients are admitted involuntarily throughout the country for treatment in approved centres and, following their stay, people are subjected to charges of anything from €80 to €800 per day for a 12-month period. While not all of these charges are collected, it is still not in the Health Act that they would be exempted, although there are exemptions for maternity care to women and where people have medical cards. I would like the House to support this amendment and to go further with regard to the legislation.