Court Rules

1. (1) In this Order –“the Act” means the Mental Health Act 2001.

(2) The provisions of rules 2, 3 and 4 of Order 84 of these Rules shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to proceedings to which this Order applies.

2. (1). Save where a child has been detained in accordance with section 23(2) of the Act or in a case to which section 25(7) of the Act applies, an application under section 25(1) of the Act for an order authorising the detention of a child in an approved centre shall be made to a Judge of the District Court assigned to the district court district in which the child resides or is for the time being to be found at a sitting of the Court for the said District. Save in a case to which section 25(7) of the Act applies, such application shall be preceded by the issue and service of a notice in the Form 84A.1 Schedule C upon the parents of the child or either of them or upon a person acting in loco parentis of the child. Such notice shall be served at least ten days prior to the date fixed for hearing the application. Where a child has been detained in accordance with section 23(2) of the Act, such notice shall be served as promptly as reasonably possible and prior to the hearing of the application at a sitting of the Court held within the time specified in section 23(3) of the Act, and may be served by delivering a copy of the notice to the parents of the child or either of them or upon a person acting in loco parentis of the child.

3. An order of the Court made under section 25(8) of the Act giving directions as to the care and custody of the child who is the subject of the application under section 25(1) of the Act pending the Court’s determination thereof shall be in the Form 84A.2 Schedule C. The applicant shall cause the said order to be served upon the respondent and upon any other person directly affected by the said order.

4. An order of the Court made under section 25(4) of the Act directing that the Health Service Executive arrange for the examination of the child by a consultant psychiatrist, not being a relative of the child, and that a report of the results of the examination be furnished to the Court, shall be in the Form 84A.3 Schedule C.

5. An order of the Court made under section 25(6) of the Act that the child be admitted and detained for treatment in a specified approved centre for a period not exceeding 21 days shall be in the Form 84A.4 Schedule C. The applicant shall cause the said order to be served upon the parents of the child or either of them or upon a person acting in loco parentis of the child and upon any other person directly affected by the said order.

6. Except where the Court otherwise directs under section 25(7) of the Act, an application by the Health Service Executive under section 25(9) of the Act for an extension of the period of detention of the child the subject of the application, or under section 25(10) by the Health Service Executive for a further extension of the period of detention of the child the subject of the application shall be preceded by the issue and service upon the parents of the child or either of them or upon a person acting in loco parentis of the child of a notice of such application in the Form 84A.5 Schedule C. Such notice shall be served at least ten days prior to the date fixed for hearing the application. An order made on such application shall be in the Form 84A.6 Schedule C.

7. An application for the approval of the Court pursuant to section 25(12) or section 25(13) of the Act shall be by notice of application in the Form 84A.7 Schedule C. Such notice shall be served upon the parents of the child or either of them or upon a person acting in loco parentis of the child at least ten days prior to the date fixed for hearing the application. An order made on such application shall be in the Form 84A.8 Schedule C. The applicant shall cause the said order to be served upon the parents of the child or either of them or upon a person acting in loco parentis of the child and upon any other person directly affected by the said order.

8. Notwithstanding any of the preceding rules, where the Judge is satisfied that the urgency of the matter so requires, an application under section 25 of the Act may -

(a) be made ex parte, subject to the lodgment with the Clerk of the appropriate notice of application duly completed;

(b) in the case of a child to whom section 23 of the Act applies, be heard, and an order made thereon, elsewhere than at a public sitting of the Court.”

 

The Forms numbered 84A.1 to 84A.8 inclusive in Schedule 1 hereof shall be added to the Forms in Schedule C of the District Court Rules 1997 (SI No. 93 of 1997).