I move amendment No. 25:
In page 26, subsection (2), line 37, after "behalf" to insert "and who furnishes to the board such a statement as is referred to in subsection (3)".
In commenting on the Bill, the Department of Equality and Law Reform drew our attention to a recommendation in the 1995 English Law Commission report on mental incapacity which is not yet implemented in English or Irish law. The recommendation involved was designed to make a person receiving the property of the mentally incapable person aware he or she had serious obligations to properly manage that property on behalf of the mentally incapable person. The recommendation requires the recipient of the property to make a written statement to the effect that he understands it is his duty to properly apply the property he receives in the best interests of the person to whom it belongs, that he is aware he may incur civil or criminal liability if he misapplies the property and that he is not aware anyone else has been given authority to receive the whole or any part of that property, whether by an order of court, power of attorney or otherwise.
While my Department and the Department of Equality and Law Reform consider the issue involved relevant to a wide-ranging mental incapacity Bill, both Departments felt such a provision offered valuable guidance to the board of directors of a credit union in implementing this type of provision. It is a difficult and sensitive area and the parliamentary draftsman agreed to my Department's request that such a statement be required by a credit union from the person to whom it proposes to give the property of its mentally incapable member for safekeeping. Given this is a new provision in Irish law, my decision to deal with the matter here provides further evidence of my commitment to the development of a state of the art Credit Union Bill.