Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE MENTAL HEALTH Bill which is set to overhaul of Ireland’s mental health laws is not expected to be passed before an election, The Journal understands.
The long-awaited legislation, which has suffered protracted delays for years, would strengthen regulation around people consenting to the type of treatment they receive.
It will also regulate all community Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) which currently fall outside the scope of regulation set out under the 2001 Mental Health Act.
It is close to ten years since an expert group tasked with reviewing the Mental Health Act 2001 recommended 165 changes to the law, but the pace of the new legislation has been painfully slow.
With election speculation rife that polling day will be held on either 29 November or 6 December, the focus at government level is progressing with legislation such as the Finance Bill, which is due to go to committee stage on 5 November.
While coalition leaders had stated that they would like to see other pieces of legislation passed by this Dáil, it is now expected that the Mental Health Bill will not make it through all stages before an election is held.
It was the hope that committee stage for the bill would get underway the week beginning the 4 November but The Journal understands that due to complexity of the bill, amendments will not be completed in time.
A government spokesperson confirmed this evening that the passage of the bill, given the election date timeline, is not possible.
If a general election is called, the bill will fall at the dissolution of the Oireachtas.
The decision to reconstitute the bill will be taken by the next government, whereby the bill will re-enter the legislative process at the stage it reached prior to the dissolution of the previous Oireachtas.
Those in government state that there is a mechanism for the fallen legislation to be revived, stating that as the proposed legislation has cross-party support, there would be no obstacles to this taking place.
At the beginning of this month, Tánaiste Micheál Martin specifically referenced the Mental Health Bill, stating that he wanted to see it passed before an election is held.
“We should complete our work programme and that involves the Finance Bill, the Social Protection Bill, but it also involves the Gambling Bill, the Mental Health Bill, the Planning Bill and the Defamation Bill. We have a tight schedule in the autumn to get that done, but we should get that legislative programme done, do our work, finish our work, and then we can leave it up to the people after that,” said the Tánaiste.
Speaking in Washington DC this month, Taoiseach Simon Harris also told reporters that he wanted to see the progression of the mental health and defamation legislation.
The Defamation Bill is also not expected to be passed before the election is called. The Social Protection Bill and the Gambling Bill were passed last week, along with the hate crime legislation.
It is expected the legislation to allow Oireachtas members to take maternity leave will be passed by all Houses before an election is called.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Run with the hare and hunt with the hound, just ain’t on. People voted Independents because they didn’t want mainstream parties. But first chance they get those Independents, turn Turk and push those same mainstream parties into power. Let government give some of their speaking time to them and not opposition time!!!
@Ollie Fitzpatrick: All elected representatives should firstly make a serious effort to get into government. How many more times will the social Democrats come up with excuses for fear of government. Much easier pick up soft money on the back benches and guarantee reelection. The SD’s are nothing more than a debate society and Labour young kids think opposition is better than government. Watch the Labour vote transfer from FG disappear.
We have very little to give out about American politics what this s”"tshow going on
I think that this is about trying to hobble Auntú rather than a matter of principle .
@Des Hanrahan: no harm
Is Kevin Kerr dead? Or has Brennie just not switched profiles lately?
@Padraig Rice Social Dems: I’d be more concerned about Trump24, Tired Jim, Mrs O’Brien, Paul F Doe, Buster Lawless etc than that tool. That first tool I mentioned is never off the Journal and seems to just try to divide Journal commenters on every thread to rile people. That person is obviously a freak, has nothing to contribute and obviously is a dole recipient!
@DJ D: Stephen is another of his profiles. Don’t feed the crocodile!
Funny how these people want diversity, except when it comes to diversity of opinion. Toibin has every right to do what he has to in order to be allocated speaking rights. Aontu got more votes than PBP, the Green Party and Independent Ireland and only got 15,000 less than Labour and the Social Democrats. This criticism from Sinn Fein and the other left-wing hobgoblins seems like nothing more than a cheap attempt to muffle opinions that they don’t like. I personally think that the rule around speaking rights is pure nonsense and is used by the progressive establishment, whether FG, FF or SF, to make sure that smaller parties are kept small. We really should do away with it and allow all members of the Dáil to have fair speaking time and it wouldn’t have come to this if that was the case.
All the elected reps in SDs and Lab wants speaking time but never made a serious effort to govern. The great Irish debating society the SD’s have run to the hills for fear they would have to do something more than pick up their wages.
Nothing new to see here even after the election
He is right.
Isn’t it just typical of SF taking a pot shot at their Ex member Tóibín. They will do anything and everything just to get media coverage. Maybe they should put their time and effort into repatriating the bodies of the people murdered and buried in shallow graves.
In action? SocDems not once, twice but three times have run away from the responsibility of Government. They are as bad as the Shinners.
Tóibín is correct.
Iff sf want real change maybe they should listen to what the public wants
have your say