Mental Health Reform, Ireland’s leading national coalition for mental health, has welcomed the enactment of the Mental Health Act 2026, signed into law by President Catherine Connolly. The Act represents the largest reform of Ireland’s mental health laws in more than 20 years.
Helen Gillespie Brown, CEO of Mental Health Reform, said: “This is a landmark moment for mental health in Ireland. The Mental Health Act 2026 marks a major step forward in strengthening the rights of people accessing mental health services.”
The new Act reforms the involuntary admission and detention process in acute mental health settings. It will provide new safeguards for people who are involuntarily admitted and introduce a revised approach to consent to treatment, ensuring that people have more of a say in decisions about their treatment.
Key strengths of the Act include the regulation of CAMHS, community mental health services and residences by the Mental Health Commission. This has the potential to significantly improve oversight and accountability in our mental health system.
Mental Health Reform also welcomed recent amendments that will strengthen safeguards for people accessing treatment. These include the regulation of pharmacological restraint, a ban on electro-convulsive therapy for children, and stronger recognition of the rights of young people aged 16 and over to make decisions about their treatment.
Helen Gillespie Brown continued: “For more than a decade, Mental Health Reform has campaigned for the reform of the Mental Health Act, 2001. We have consistently called for modern, person-centred legislation that protects people’s rights and supports their recovery.
Now the law has been made, implementation will be crucial. Substantial investment is needed to ensure nationwide availability of authorised officers, age-appropriate services for children, and sufficient resourcing of the Mental Health Commission.
We would like to congratulate the Minister, the Department of Health, the many government departments and officials and all the stakeholders involved in bringing the Mental Health Bill to fruition over the past decade. The enactment of the legislation will be a crucial step in the delivery of person-centred, integrated, recovery-focused services, as set out in our national mental health policy, Sharing the Vision.
We look forward to working with our members, supporters, people with lived experience, statutory bodies, government and Oireachtas members to ensure the Bill delivers a modern, rights-based mental health system in Ireland.”