Mental Health Reform (MHR) warmly welcomes Minister O’Gorman’s announcement that provisions within the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022 will be extended to people involuntarily detained under Part 4 of the Mental Health Act 2001 by way of Government amendments. MHR would like to thank Minister O’Gorman, Minister Butler and Minister Rabbitte and all of their Officials for the significant work on addressing this potentially discriminatory omission.
For many years, MHR has been calling for the provisions of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 to be extended to people involuntarily detained and people involuntarily detained under the Criminal Law Insanity Act 2006. There is still work to be done to protect the rights of people who are involuntarily detained and we look forward to continuing this positive and collaborative work through reforming the Mental Health Act 2001, which must now be progressed without delay.
We have sent letters to the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and all relevant Ministers and Officials. We also raised the matter with the Taoiseach, when we met him in Cork in July this year. MHR has kept our members updated on the status of the required amendments throughout the year and has encouraged others to get in touch with their elected representatives. MHR also brought this issue to the Regional Roadshows with the HSE’s Mental Health Engagement and Recovery Office and encouraged people to talk to their TDs.
MHR will be monitoring the remaining stages of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022 closely and look forward to these reforms being implemented and operational before the end of November 2022.
