Francis Noel Duffy (Dublin South West, Green Party)
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587. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 712 of 30 April 2024, if, in circumstances where a private/charitable service provider believes that it is in the best interests of a child to receive psychological support, where the private/charitable service provider has a policy that the consent of one parent/guardian is sufficient, one parent/guardian legally can bring their child to avail of psychological support if the other parent / guardian opposes this. [22579/24]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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It is a matter for each private/charitable service provider to satisfy itself that its consent policy is in accordance with the law. Where a service provider has legal concerns about the appropriateness of providing services to a given service user, it may be appropriate to seek legal advice.

Section 4.1 of the HSE National Consent Policy sets out its position in relation to parental consent from one parent/guardian and may be useful to other service providers:

Where both parents, or all legal guardians, have indicated a wish to be involved in the consent process and there is a dispute between parents or the legal guardians as to the appropriate course of action, then unless the matter is urgent, the intervention should be deferred and an attempt should be made to reach a consensus decision. At all times, the primacy of the best interests of the child should be recognised. If a consensus between the child’s parents or legal guardians cannot be reached, the healthcare worker should notify the parents or legal guardians that the healthcare worker intends to proceed with the course of action which the healthcare worker considers to be in the best interests of the child on the basis of the consent of one parent. The healthcare worker should inform the parent or legal guardian who has a contrary view that they may make an application to the Court for a direction to prevent this. In such circumstances, the healthcare worker should seek legal advice as to whether an application to Court should be made by the service provider particularly in cases where the intervention is high risk or has potentially serious consequences.

The HSE's National Consent Policy can be found here: assets.hse.ie/media/documents/ncr/HSE_Consent_Policy_2022_v1.2_-_Jan_2024.pdf

Francis Noel Duffy (Dublin South West, Green Party)
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588. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 712 of 30 April 2024, if her Department has considered issuing a guideline similar to the NHS (details supplied) that the consent of only one parent is necessary to allow a child to avail of psychological support; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22580/24]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The HSE has published a National Consent Policy that sets out the HSE's policy in relation to consent to treatment for adults and for children, including circumstances where parental consent is necessary and what to do where one parent or guardian consents.

The HSE's National Consent Policy can be found here: assets.hse.ie/media/documents/ncr/HSE_Consent_Policy_2022_v1.2_-_Jan_2024.pdf