Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I echo those concerns. I have received phone calls which upset me and I am not the better for. The idea that a document that is legally binding in many circumstances and is put together when the person has absolute capacity could be suspended in any circumstances is appalling. Has the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC, been consulted on this? I expected these amendments to be more strongly in support of people with mental ill health. As much as we desperately need to have this Act in place for many good reasons, I question the wisdom of proceeding if it has to be done in conjunction with mental health legislation that will not come before the House until some point in the future. The idea that people in the State will find themselves in a position of absolute powerlessness when they could have had a voice, one which they had put in place themselves, is unacceptable. I am deeply uncomfortable with codifying that. I would like to understand whether this has been proofed by the IHREC? Some of the cases described to me on the telephone are outrageous. We cannot have an inherent bias in how people are treated when they have mental ill health.

I have now become alive to all that it happening in the committee chaired by Senator Black. I will watch and read its proceedings with great interest because we cannot codify something that perpetuates an inherent bias and discrimination. We cannot do that.