{"id":413772,"date":"2026-04-23T17:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T17:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/413772\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T17:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T17:02:08","slug":"psychiatrists-training-body-wants-highly-offensive-term-removed-from-mental-health-bill-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/413772\/","title":{"rendered":"Psychiatrists\u2019 training body wants \u2018highly offensive\u2019 term removed from Mental Health Bill \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The inclusion of the term \u201cpharmacological restraint\u201d in the new Mental Health Bill is \u201chighly offensive\u201d to those working in the sector, the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland<\/a> has told senators.<\/p>\n

The Bill, when enacted, is set to be the first big reform of the legislation in more than 20 years and seeks to move to a more human rights-based approach.<\/p>\n

It passed through the final stage of the Seanad last Thursday and will return to the D\u00e1il for final approval before being signed into law.<\/p>\n

The psychiatrists\u2019 training body wrote to all senators last week expressing concern about a number of aspects of the Bill.<\/p>\n

The letter was written by college president Dr Lorcan Martin and Dr Joanne Fegan, director of communications and public education. It said the organisation was \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d about the addition of the definition of \u201cpharmacological restraint\u201d, as it is a practice that \u201cdoes not exist\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cPsychiatrists and mental health<\/a> professionals do not engage in administration of medication with the intention of \u2018controlling a person\u2019s behaviour\u2019 as it is worded; or indeed with the intention to \u2018restrict, prevent or limit the person\u2019s freedom of movement or access to his or her own body\u2019,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is deeply offensive to any practicing mental healthcare worker to feel that wording exists that suggests we administer medication under the terms of this definition. It is unclear what evidence\/data exists that gave rise to and supports this inclusion. We respectfully request that it be removed as soon as practicable from the Mental Health Bill 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organisation also warned that proposed court oversight of treatment is \u201cunnecessary, redundant and costly\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe resources of the courts are already limited and under strain. Involuntary patients will often express a fear that they have done something wrong,\u201d the letter said. \u201cCourt oversight will reinforce this idea, causing unnecessary distress for the unwell person.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the Department of Health<\/a> said the Bill has been developed over many years following \u201cextensive consultation\u201d with stakeholders. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Minister and the Department of Health are satisfied that the provisions in the Bill regarding consent to treatment and recourse to the court in certain circumstances are appropriate and well balanced,\u201d the spokesman said.<\/p>\n

In relation to the chemical restraint, the spokesman said Mary Butler, Minister of State at the Department of Health, wrote to the Mental Health Commission, the regulator, in July 2025. She did this, the spokesman said, seeking information such as estimated prevalence in Ireland, examples of such practices and definitions. <\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing subsequent consultation with the Commission, two new sections were drafted with the Office of Parliamentary Counsel to provide for the regulation of the use of pharmacological restraint for adults and children,\u201d the spokesman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sections provide for the Commission to make regulations in relation to the use of pharmacological restraint and sets out that it may only be administered according to strict criteria.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spokesman added that both the Minister and the Department are \u201csatisfied that the current provisions achieve an appropriate balance\u201d between healthcare and human rights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The inclusion of the term \u201cpharmacological restraint\u201d in the new Mental Health Bill is \u201chighly offensive\u201d to those…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[3414,103,61,60,410,411],"class_list":{"0":"post-413772","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-department-of-health","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-mental-health","13":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}