3350. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 1228 of 10 February 2026 and 1111 of 24 February 2026, the reason the Mental Health Commission does not publish information on the duration of mechanical restraint for enduring risk of harm, notwithstanding that approved centres submit information to the Mental Health Commission from which the duration of each use can be established; whether she accepts that reporting only the number of residents or uses does not provide an adequate measure of the extent or severity of restraint; and if she will request that future national restrictive-practices reports publish, by year and approved centre, the total cumulative duration, median duration, longest duration and duration bands for mechanical restraint, with proportionate anonymisation or suppression where genuinely necessary to protect individual residents. [55890/26]

The Mental Health Commission (MHC) is an independent statutory body established under the Mental Health Act 2001 and is responsible for regulating and monitoring approved mental health centres, including the collection and publication of information relating to the use of restrictive practices.

As outlined in previous replies to the Deputy, approved centres submit detailed information to the MHC on each episode of seclusion, mechanical restraint and physical restraint. The MHC publishes annual national reports on restrictive practices, including data on the number of episodes and the number of residents subject to such interventions, together with other relevant information.

The MHC's 2023 Restrictive Practices Report notes that restrictive practices generally have declined significantly following the introduction of revised rules on seclusion and mechanical restraint from January 2023. The report notes that there were nine incidents of mechanical restraint reported nationally. This represented a further decrease on 2022 levels, and the MHC noted that the use of mechanical restraint continued to be rare.

The use of mechanical means of bodily restraint on an ongoing basis for enduring risk of harm to self or others may be appropriate in certain clinical situations but must be used only to address an identified clinical need and/or risk. Most mechanical restraints for enduring risk relate to bed rails or cot sides. While the use of bed rails and cot sides may be considered a restrictive practice, in some situations, it is important to note that they may also be an important safety measure for some people.

The MHC requires each approved centre to notify the regulator every six months on the use of mechanical restraint for enduring risk of harm to self or others. In the notification, services are required to include:

• The total number of persons that the centre can accommodate at any one time.

• The total number of persons that were admitted during the reporting period.

• The total number of persons who were mechanically restrained as a result of the use of Mechanical Means of Bodily Restraint for Enduring Risk of Harm to Self or Others.

Approved centres are not required to notify the MHC about the duration of mechanical restraint for enduring risk of harm and, consequently, does not include duration in its Restrictive Practices Activity Reports.