Dan Neville (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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679. To ask the Minister for Health the position regarding the commitment in the programme for Government to review the Mental Health Act 2001. [41456/14]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The Programme for Government contains a commitment to review the Mental Health Act 2001 "informed by human rights standards and in consultation with service users, carers and other stakeholders", and the Government and I attach great importance to this review.

The review is a two phased approach, the first phase of which saw a Steering Group being appointed to review the provisions of the Act having regard to its general operation since its commencement and to take account of the extent to which the recommendations of 'A Vision for Change', could or should be underpinned by legislation and the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. The Interim Report of the Steering Group was published on 21 June 2012 and is available on my Department's website (health.gov.ie). The recommendations of the Interim Review have been well received by key stakeholders and fully endorsed the rights based approach to mental health law in addition to supporting the objectives of 'A Vision for Change' especially in relation to the promotion of community based mental health services.

In August 2012, I established an Expert Group to carry out the second and substantive phase of the review which is principally tasked with fleshing out the Steering Group recommendations. The Group is comprised of 15 people and includes expertise from a range of professionals and key stakeholder organisations. The Expert Group has finished its deliberations and has held its final meeting. Work is continuing in my Department on finalising the report following the decisions made by the Expert Group and I expect to receive the final report in the coming weeks.