Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise a revision that was made by the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman, to the appointment of the power of attorney process. A year ago, when the power of attorney legislation was transferred from the Department of Justice to the Department of disability and inclusion, the amendment that we made on behalf of the State made the current process entirely complicated and actually exclusionary.It is putting people off employing powers of attorney, particularly those who are older and vulnerable. An enduring power of attorney allows vulnerable people to appoint an attorney to act on their behalf and in their best interests should they ever lose the capacity to make decisions themselves. We know that this decision is made by people long before they ever reach a position of not having capacity but the possibility for people with limited decision-making capacity to appoint an attorney to oversee their personal and financial matters has become entirely convoluted. We have made what was a relatively easy two- or three-step process involving personal engagement between the attorney and the client into a very convoluted ten-step process that is entirely based on ICT, which is hugely problematic for people who do not have the access or the wherewithal to do it. I can only assume that the Minister thought at the time that he was empowering people in their decision-making capacity processes but we have actually made a dog's dinner of what was a relatively simple process. It is now exclusionary and is putting people off. The aim of empowering people to make decisions themselves has now been totally reversed and mucked up.

I seek a review of the amendment that was made 12 months ago. It is patently not working. Those in the legal system are telling us that it is not working, as are disability advocates. Our attempt to make it better has made it far worse and more exclusionary. I ask the Leader to advise on how best to get the Minister to review the process, whether that is by bringing back the legislation after 12 months to review it or by having a debate on it in the House to make our views known, as well as the views of those advocating in the disability sector and the legal sector. We need to get back to something that is in the best interests of people making decisions within their own capacity but supported by the legal system. We should not be making the system totally convoluted.