Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The latest on that is that the high-level steering group, comprising senior officials from the Department of Justice and Equality, the Department of Health, the Mental Health Commission, the Courts Service and the director of the decision support service, which was set up in 2016 to oversee the establishment and the commissioning of the decision support service, is continuing its work.

The director has been appointed, as members will know, and is working in a very determined way to get the necessary staff, resources, IT systems, expert panels, codes of practice and regulations in place in order that the Decision Support Service can be up and running as quickly as possible. However, there are many complex strands to this work, including the involvement of multiple organisations. The prevailing view is that the service will not become operational before 2019.