Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was not in favour of that. When it came before the Seanad, unfortunately the Department advised it wanted a further 12 months before it would go forward with the regulation of home care providers. It is an important issue because anyone can set up a home care providing company without restriction. There is a voluntary code but there is no regulation. It is something we need to progress. Perhaps we could put that Bill on our agenda and give it some consideration here as a way of pressing the Department to progress that legislation.

I will touch on a number of issues that I will come at as a practising solicitor rather than a public representative. On the one hand I think there is a need for regulation but on the other hand I think sometimes there has been misinterpretation of regulation. Recently I went to lodge €25,000 into the credit union account of an elderly person who was in a nursing home. The cheque was swiftly sent back to me saying the person must come in person to lodge the money into her account. That is an example on an over-emphasis on regulation. There was a clear explanation given for where the money came from. It was from the estate of a brother who had died. The money laundering legislation was cited as the reason why the money has to be lodged in person by the account holder. Over-interpretation of regulation can sometimes be a disadvantage.

I come across the biggest problems with people who are on their own and are borderline in terms of whether someone should be appointed to manage their affairs; they need further assistance but there is a certain amount of independence. I have a case at the moment of an elderly gentleman living on his own whose medical card has lapsed. On Monday morning I had a Bill from the pharmacy for over €800 and we cannot get access to his bank account to answer all the questions for the medical card application. We have the community guard and nurse working on it but there is no one in charge. It is a very grey area. There is a concern about over-interference and it is one of the problems we have. One issue arises when I have to enact enduring powers of attorney. In some cases, we are lucky that we already had those powers signed but in cases where we do not have them signed, the issue seems to drag on when trying to manage the person's affairs and trying to make decisions. We have not done enough work in trying to encourage people to sign powers of attorney while they are fully competent, for example when they are admitted to a nursing home. Another example is when people just come out of hospital and, while their health may have stabilised, they need to start long-term planning. There is a reluctance to such planning so we need to provide more education in that area. It is one of the situations where there are difficulties acting in a legal capacity. We find resistance from some institutions when we are trying to help. Barriers are put in our way when we are trying to give assistance when it is really necessary. It is something we need to look at. I am particularly talking about enduring powers of attorney so that at least there is someone clearly identified as being in charge. They also, in taking on that role, have responsibilities and are fully accountable. We need to do a lot more in that area.

When abuse arises, it can be hidden in many ways. I might recognise it from reading all the signs that are presented to me in a legal capacity but to try to pinpoint it to get movement to protect the person is quite difficult. It is something we need to highlight a lot more. We also need to highlight how people can protect themselves at a far earlier stage rather than waiting for the day they can no longer make a decision. It is one of the problems I am finding in a legal capacity. There also needs to be far more co-operation between the agencies and the community guard, community nurse, the HSE services and all the other State agencies so that when something arises such as the situation I am talking about someone is put in charge to co-ordinate all that. It is one of the problems we are not addressing at the moment. I thank the witnesses for the work they are doing and for the progress that has been made over the past number of years.