Mental Health Reform (MHR) is Ireland’s national coalition on mental health. I’ve been on the Policy, Advocacy and Research team for over 3 years now. I’m also a
person with lived experience of mental health difficulties.
MHR has been advocating for the reform of the Mental Health Act, 2001 for over a decade. We were very involved in the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015
and in advocating against the discriminatory exclusions around Advanced Healthcare Directives (AHDs) for people involuntary detained under the Mental Health Act, 2001.
On September 19, the long-awaited, new Mental Health Bill 2024 passed Second
Stage in the Dáil. It will now be referred to the Health Committee. Committee Stage
is where members will discuss proposed amendments to the Bill. So, we are back to
waiting for reform, and waiting for rights.
The Mental Health Act, 2001, though very progressive for its time, is now completely
out of line with international human rights standards including the UN Convention on
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). The legislation is at odds with
recovery-focused, person-centred mental health care.
This reform bill, the Mental Health Bill 2024 was a commitment in the Programme for
Government and has already received significant consultation and discussion.
The Draft Heads of the Bill were published in July 2021 and MHR published
a Human Rights Analysis on the Heads of the Bill in October 2021.This was co-
authored by the late and great, Dr Fiona Morrissey, and Dr Charles O’ Mahony,
University of Galway. The Bill then went through the Pre-Legislative Scrutiny process
and the Sub-Committee on Mental Health produced a Pre-Legislative Scrutiny report
with 19 recommendations.
Last month, MHR published a Plain English guide to support people to understand
the key changes in the Mental Health Bill. The guide aims to make the legislation
more accessible to members of the public. It has been written to encourage optimum
discussion about the new laws for everyone concerned with mental health. The
contents will be correct up to the point of an Oireachtas Committee discussing
amendments.
We know that Government amendments are needed. From MHR’s perspective,
there are definite steps that could be taken to strengthen the human rights provisions
of the Bill. Of course, in tandem, the State needs to remove its declarations and
reservations on Articles 12 (equal recognition before the law) and 14 (liberty and
security of person) of the UNCRPD, but that is an article for another day.
The improvements that can, and should, be made to the Mental Health Bill 2024
include:
– A statutory right to independent advocacy (this should be alongside the new
provisions for a ‘nominated person’ to be your support)
– The establishment of an Independent Complaints Mechanism
– The explicit prohibition of admitting children to adult psychiatric units
– Safeguards around the role of Gardaí in mental healthcare
We have a significant number of resources available online, including videos and
webinar recordings to help members of the public understand the changes to our
mental health laws.
You can follow MHR’s campaign to #ReformMHA here:
Please do get involved, by talking to General Election candidates, signing up to
follow our work, or having conversations with your friends and loved ones about your
experiences.