Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The Mental Health Bill is being drafted generally in line with the published General Scheme of a Bill to amend the Mental Health Act 2001, and will replace the existing 2001 Act as the Act underpinning our mental health legislation.

It is a large Bill encompassing many separate, complex areas such as involuntary admission and detention, regulation of mental health services, establishment and governance of the Mental Health Commission, capacity and consent to treatment, and provisions related to children and young people in mental health services. It is expected that the Bill will have in excess of 130 sections.

Considering the length of the Bill and complexity of the issues contained therein, it has taken time for officials in my Department and officials working in the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of Parliamentary Counsel (OPC) to prepare the legislation. Considerable resources have been allocated to drafting the Bill, with full time resources in the Department and four OPC drafters responsible for progressing the draft.

I am happy to say that the Bill is now in the final months of drafting. My officials will continue to work intensively to finalise the Bill and ready it for publication. The Bill is on the priority for drafting list for the current legislative session, as it was for all three sessions in 2023. It is my firm intention that the Bill will be published in the summer legislative session and I will seek its introduction to the Oireachtas as soon as possible following publication.