Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 December 2023
474. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of applications that have been completed under the Assisted Decision-Making Capacity Act 2015 since the Decision Support Service came into being earlier this year; in tabular form. [53430/23]
View answerOn the 26th of April this year I commenced the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 (the 2015 Act), along with the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Act 2022. This allowed for the Decision Support Service to become operational, and to commence processing certain types of decision support applications under different Parts of the Act.
The statistics below include all applications processed by the Decision Support Service under Parts 3 (Decision-Making Assistance), 4 (Co-Decision-Making), and 7(Enduring Powers of Attorney) of the 2015 Act, and orders issued by the Circuit Court under Part 5 (Decision-Making Representation).
|
Decision-Making Arrangement |
Applications Submitted since Commencement |
Registered Arrangements |
|
Decision-Making Assistance Agreements |
26 |
7 |
|
Co-Decision-Making Agreements |
39 |
8 |
|
Enduring Power of Attorney |
358 |
27 |
|
Decision-Making Representation Orders |
131 (received from Circuit Court) |
67 |
|
Total |
554 |
109 |
'Applications submitted since commencement' are applications that are fully submitted by the applicant so are complete from their perspective. They are in various stages in the process, noting that notice and objection periods are built in as safeguards under the Act, which add to the overall processing timeframe.
The DSS has 1498 active applications on their system, comprising enduring powers of attorney, co-decision-making agreements and decision-making assistance agreements. The number of registered arrangements continues to grow, and the number of Part 5 decision-making representation orders received from the Circuit Court is also on the rise.
The Decision Support Service also deal with a huge volume of queries each month, by phone, email and other forms of communication, as people seek to understand the legislation and the application making process. The DSS also holds a range of other functions under the Act, including supervision of decision support arrangements, maintenance of a decision supports register, maintenance of different panels to support the operation of the Act, promotion of the Act, as well as other key functions.
Commencement of the Assisted Decision-Making Act brought an end to wardship in the State for adults, by repealing the Lunacy Regulation (Ireland) Act 1871 and replacing the wards of court system with the new process for appointing tiered decision support arrangements that is now in effect. All existing wards of court are due to exit wardship on a phased basis within three years of commencement.
Wardship was a disempowering system that places a third party’s assessment of a person’s “best interests” above that person’s own will and preference. Under Assisted Decision-Making legislation a flexible functional approach to capacity will be taken, where capacity is assessed on an issue and time-specific basis.
The new system of decision support arrangements is supporting people to continue to exercise control over their daily affairs and to carry on with lives of their choosing, even in the context of diminished capacity.
