Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 September 2021
1118. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Health when he expects the director of the decision support services to submit the code of practice in respect of Part 8 of the Assisted Decision-Making Capacity Act 2015 to him for approval and publication in view of the inordinate delay since December 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41794/21]
View answerPart 8 of the Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Act 2015 provides a legislative framework for Advanced Healthcare Directives (AHDs). An AHD is a statement made by a person with capacity setting out his or her will and preferences regarding treatment decisions that may arise in the future when he or she no longer has capacity.
My Department remains committed to commencing these provisions as soon as possible. The development of a code of practice to accompany the AHD provisions is a key piece of work to facilitate commencement. The AHD multidisciplinary working group established by the Minister in 2016 has developed a code of practice for Part 8 and submitted it to the Director of Decision Support Services in December 2018 for consideration.
When the public consultation has taken place and the code of practice for Part 8 has been finalised by the Director it will be submitted to me for approval prior to publication.
