Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on the role he played today in the very important visit by President Zelenskyy.

Pharmacological restraint refers to the administration of medication to a person where the purpose of the medication is only to control a person's behaviour or control access to his or her body. That is the first point and that must be made clear. I do not have a clinical background.I say this every time I speak on the Bill. Everything I do is based on lived experience and common sense. Pharmacological restraint does not include any administration of medication where the medication is for the benefit of the person's condition. That is important and has to be put on the record. The next point is it can only be ordered by a consultant psychiatrist and initiated and applied by a trained mental health care professional. It is important that those provisions that are in place are overseen and adhered to. That is the first point.

The second point is there are some regulations there. I will not use the word "uncomfortable", but I wanted to be reassured by the Mental Health Commission in relation to exactly what Senator Ruane has said there that other people have said to me, about when pharmacological restraint may be applied. I welcome the fact that we have seen the numbers fall significantly, by 62%, in all restrictive practices. The reduction that we have seen and the amount of huge work that has been done is greater than that in any other country in Europe but I believe the amendments I am proposing, because of the Mental Health Commission's involvement in this and that I have asked it to come up with the guidelines that we will implement when the Bill is implementable, are the best way forward.

As I said at the start, I am not a clinician so I cannot determine personally whether it is pharmacological restraint in the case of an elderly person or a loved one of mine who might be on medication, when they might be trying to get the dose right, for example, and the person might be groggy for a few days but after a week would get used to it or maybe they decide he or she is too groggy and they will bring him or her back down. I do not think that is pharmacological restraint but I believe it is for the best people to determine what it is and what way it should be implemented properly because there have been incidents and I myself have come across them. You might have older people with dementia. You might have an adult with an intellectual disability, for example, who might be a risk to himself or herself or a risk to others, and it is in that determination where I felt it was important enough that pharmacological restraint needed to be included in this Bill and I want to take the advice of the Mental Health Commission in relation to it.

I thank the Senators for their amendments. I have looked at them in detail but I would prefer to continue on the pathway. We all are 95% on the same page. That is where I am at.