Reforming the Mental Health Act 2001

The Report of the Expert Group on the Review of the Mental Health Act 2001 has been published today.  The press release is here.  The full report is available here.  For reaction from Mental Health Reform and Amnesty International Ireland see here. There has been media coverage in the Irish Times, Irish Examiner and on Morning Ireland (interview with Kathleen Lynch). 

As I have meetings and classes today I cannot write a proper blog post yet. 

However, here are some of my tweets.  For more see http://twitter.com/dariuswirl


Darius Whelan retweeted
Katherine Wade @kathwade 
1/1 Guiding principles in Mental Health Act Review are CRC-based with ref to Art 12 and need for consultation and individual care plans.

Darius Whelan @dariuswirl  · 
New mental health leg. to change how people interact with services - @KathleenLynchTD on @morningireland (audio) http://bit.ly/1zNG3uN 

Darius Whelan retweeted
Katherine Wade @kathwade  · Children to have separate guiding principles and presumption of capacity to refuse admission/treatment http://bit.ly/1wJg112  #mentalhealth

Darius Whelan @dariuswirl  · 
Press Release - Minister Lynch publishes Expert Group Review of the Mental Health Act, 2001 #MentalHealth http://bit.ly/1zNzvMx

Darius Whelan @dariuswirl  · 
Group: S.73 should be repealed - (requires permission of the Court before instituting civil proceedings under the Act) #mentalhealth

Darius Whelan @dariuswirl  · 
Group: Introduction of legislation for advance healthcare directives which should apply to mental health equally with general health

Darius Whelan @dariuswirl  · 
Group: Appeal to Circuit Court - onus of proof re mental illness should lie with approved centre rather than person detained

Darius Whelan @dariuswirl  · 
Group: Mechanism to allow information in relation to decisions of Review Boards to be published in anonymised form needed #mentalhealth

Darius Whelan @dariuswirl  · 
Group: Full proposals on ECT. Can continue without consent in limited circumstances #mentalhealth
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Darius Whelan @dariuswirl  · 
Group: Children to have a stand-alone section of the Mental Health Act with child appropriate guiding principles #mentalhealth

Darius Whelan @dariuswirl  · 
Group: New intermediate patients - people who may not warrant detention but do not have the capacity to give informed consent - safeguards

Darius Whelan @dariuswirl  · 
Group: Key decisions such as admission of involuntary patients should involve assessment by at least two Mental Health Professionals.

Darius Whelan retweeted
MHReform @MHReform  ·  2h 2 hours ago
Reaction frm @AmnestyIreland & @MHReform to publication of #MentalHealthAct review report: http://bit.ly/1ALBvVT  @morningireland @TodaySOR

Renewal Orders will be for 3 or 6 months only – 12 month orders will no longer be possible. #mentalhealth

Darius Whelan @dariuswirl  · 
Mental Health Tribunals (renamed Mental Health Review Boards) will review detention after 14 days rather than 21 days #mentalhealth

Darius Whelan @dariuswirl  ·  Group proposes ECT without consent only in limited circumstances - and must be approved by a Mental Health Review Board #mentalhealth

Darius Whelan @dariuswirl  · 
Will tweet some points from report of Expert Group on Mental Health Act 2001 (full text received via @juneshannon - thanks!)

Darius Whelan @dariuswirl 
Fast track for laws to ban shock therapy #mentalhealth http:// http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/fast-track-for-laws-to-ban-shock-therapy-316085.html#.VPgHNMvZ3b0.twitter …

Call for submissions on section 37 of Employment Equality Act 1998 (Religious Ethos)

From www.equality.ie -

"Call for Submissions: 

Proposed amendment to section 37 of the Employment Equality Acts 1998 – 2011 

The Equality Authority is inviting submissions from interested parties as part of a consultation process in relation to a proposed amendment to s37 of the Employment Equality Acts 1998 – 2011. Submissions are welcome in electronic format to submissions@equality.ie  and should be no more than 2,000 words in length. The deadline is 5.00pm on Friday November 1st 2013. 

Background 

You may also be aware that The Programme for Government stated: “People of non-faith or minority religious backgrounds and publicly identified LGBT people should not be deterred from training or taking up employment as teachers in the State”. 

The s37 provision may also have an impact in institutions that have a religious ethos such as those in the health sector. 

The Minister for Justice and Equality has decided to merge the Equality Authority with the Irish Human Rights Commission. His letter of appointment to the members of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (designate) (the “Commission designate”) sets out that he wanted to address the amendment of s37 of the Employment Equality Acts 1998 – 2011 with the Commission members as a priority matter.

 The Commission designate has agreed to review the issue and the Executive of the Equality Authority are leading this project. The Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) has also agreed to assist in this project.  For further information please contact Ms. Nuala Cuddy on 0505-24126 or 1890 245 545."

For some of the background on the religious ethos exception, see the following:

• Gerry Whyte, 'Protecting Religious Ethos in Employment Law: A Clash of Cultures' (2005) 12 Dublin University Law Journal 169   
• Mark Coen, 'Religious Ethos and Employment Equality: a Comparative Irish Perspective' (2008) 28(3) Legal Studies 452  
• Mark Coen 'Living the Ethos?' (2007) 101(6) Gazette of Law Society of Ireland 33    
• Mark Coen, 'Churches must not be immune from sections of equality law',  Irish Times, 4 August 2007 

The well-known Eileen Flynn case is available here - Flynn v. Power [1985] IEHC 1; [1985] IR 648.