Mental Treatment Act, 1945
|
Retirement, relinquishment of his commission, or discharge of member of Defence Forces who is of unsound mind. |
273.—(1) Upon the retirement, relinquishment of his commission, or discharge of a member of the Defence Forces who is certified, at the time of such retirement, relinquishment of commission, or discharge, by a registered medical practitioner to be a person of unsound mind and to be a proper person to be detained under care and treatment, the Minister for Defence, or any officer of the Defence Forces not below the rank of commandant deputed by that Minister for the purpose, may by order cause him to be sent to the district mental hospital for the mental hospital district to which it appears to that Minister or such officer (as the case may be), after due investigation, that he belongs. | |
(2) Where, on an investigation pursuant to sub-section (1) of this section, it appears that a member of the Defence Forces does not belong to a district within the State, such member shall be regarded for the purposes of this section as belonging to the mental hospital district in which he retires, relinquishes his commission, or is discharged. | ||
(3) Every order under this section shall specify the district mental hospital to which the person to whom the order relates is to be sent. | ||
(4) In determining for the purposes of an order under this section the mental hospital district to which the person to whom such order relates belongs, the Minister for Defence or the officer making the order (as the case may be) shall make such inquiries as may be necessary for that purpose and shall have regard to the statements made in the attestation paper of the member and to such other sources of information as may be available. | ||
(5) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, where a person is sent to a district mental hospital under an order under this section, he shall be received in the hospital and shall thereupon be subject to the provisions of this Act in like manner as if he were a patient received in the hospital under a chargeable patient reception order and, accordingly, every reference in this Act to a reception order shall, where appropriate, be deemed to include a reference to an order under this section. | ||
(6) A person received into a district mental hospital under an order under this section shall be deemed not to be a criminal lunatic within the meaning of section 6 of the Lunacy (Ireland) Act, 1901 . | ||
(7) Where a person is received into a district mental hospital under an order under this section, the Minister for Defence may, if he so thinks proper, provide for the payment of the conveyance of the wife and children of such person to the mental hospital district in respect of the hospital, and in such case may notify the proper public assistance authority of the conveyance should he consider the circumstances of the family such as would render them eligible for public assistance. | ||
(8) The expenses incurred by the Minister for Defence in the administration of this section shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas. | ||
(9) In this section, a reference to a member of the Defence Forces does not include a reference to a member of that part of the Defence Forces known as the Reserve save as respects a period during which such member is called out on permanent service, for training or to aid the civil power in the preservation of public order. |