27th February, 2002
Dr. Henry: I support Senator O'Toole on this matter. I wish I had thought of putting down similar amendments to other Bills. The Minister of State will recall that all Senators welcomed the Bill last week and she must not feel that we do not support her endeavours. In this worthwhile amendment we are trying to ensure that the Bill will not be allowed to drift if the Minister, Deputy Hanafin, is not in charge of children in the future - God between us and all harm. Both Houses pushed through the Mental Health Bill, 1999, with great haste before the summer recess last year, but not a line of it has been implemented.
Mrs. Jackman: Yes.
Dr. Henry: I was reduced to tabling a Private Members' Bill some months ago to try to impress on the Department of Health and Children a sense of urgency by recommending that the Mental Health Act should be implemented by a date in March of this year. The courts repeatedly mention the problems they encounter because mental health legislation has not been updated. I wish I had thought of introducing an amendment similar to Senator O'Toole's when this House considered the Mental Health Bill last June. I support this amendment and hope it will be accepted.
Dr. Henry: I would hope that the Minister, as such a great Irish speaker - I watched her on the television programme "Mná na hÉireann" the other night - would accept this amendment.
Dr. Henry: I move amendment No. 8:
In page 13, subsection (2)(b)(i), line 18, after "trivial", to insert ", malicious".
It is unfortunate to have to insert a word such as "malicious". Complaints can be trivial and vexatious, but they can also be malicious and this amendment is unfortunate but necessary. "Malicious" means trying to do harm to someone, "trivial" means of very little importance and "vexatious" means to be a nuisance. People could make complaints which attempt to do harm to the person about whom the complaint is lodged. I regret that a word like this has to be used, but unfortunately this is the kind of society in which we now live.
Dr. Henry: It is difficult to understand the reason children in places of detention are being excluded. I have grave concerns about it, but I am even more concerned about children who may be asylum seekers, particularly in view of the fact that more and more unaccompanied minors are coming to this country. It is important, therefore, that they should be in a position to appeal to the ombudsman.
Dr. Henry: I move amendment No. 13:
In page 15, subsection (1)(g)(i), line 28, to delete "12 months" and substitute "two years".
My apologies for the delay. I was summoned to deal with a dramatic constituency problem.
This amendment is also to do with administration. Twelve months is quite a short time in which a person can make a complaint, from the point of view of logistics. I hope the Minister of State's officials are not offended when I say that sometimes I find it is four months, six, months or longer before I get a reply from the Department. That is why I felt it was necessary to provide for two years to elapse to allow for at least two or three letters to go back and forth between whatever body or hospital is involved.
Dr. Henry: I move amendment No. 21:
In page 26, line 7, after "Limerick", to insert ", and other such hospitals as may be added from time to time".
I expressed my concerns on Second Stage about the fact that children in hospitals, particularly those in psychiatric hospitals, do not seem to be under the remit of the Ombudsman for Children. I know there are difficulties regarding private institutions, although such difficulties do not exist when private facilities are used by a public body, for example the Eastern Regional Health Authority.
Sometimes patients may be admitted in a private capacity to such hospitals, and I have heard complaints made by young adults who were admitted to adult institutions, despite the fact that they were children. These young people felt that they had been treated badly, not in terms of the care that they received, but in terms of their overall treatment as children. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Charlie McCreevy, is encouraging the building of private hospitals, and I would like to think that it would be possible to add any newly-constructed hospitals to the list that is given in this Bill. That is why I have put forward this amendment.
Dr. Henry: I congratulate Senator Ryan on his splendid contribution to this debate. The Minister should ask the Department of Health and Children to think again, because art is long and time is fleeting and heaven only knows what will happen. I take seriously the urging by the Minister for Finance, Deputy McCreevy, to build private hospitals; great tax incentives have been given to promote such projects. In ten years' time, we might well be in a situation where hospitals exist that are not even dreamt of at this moment by the Department of Health and Children.
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