Ms Leanne Caulfield:

The commission has undertaken a considerable amount of comparative research in looking at other jurisdictions, particularly looking at our neighbours across the water in Scotland who have, I suppose, the longest-standing adult safeguarding legislation. It would be fair to say they have had legislation in place, in the form of the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act, since 2007. We are keen to look at them because they have the longest experience of having legislation in place. Our Scottish colleagues are undertaking a review of that legislation at present in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders to ascertain if there is any way that the implementation or effectiveness of that legislation could be improved. We are keen to learn from that ongoing review.

The commission is part of a five-nation adult support and protection conference series, which involves colleagues from Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England and is providing the commission with an invaluable opportunity to learn from the experiences of our colleagues in those jurisdictions and to learn from the challenges that they faced and how they have addressed those challenges.

In terms of one country of best practice, it would be fair to say that there are areas of best practice across a number of countries. The commission is keen to identify those different areas of best practice and how they could apply within the Irish context, and within the Irish health, social care and different sectoral models as well. Bearing in mind we have a great deal of regulatory history with some of the jurisdictions, we would be keen to look to them because theirs might be more appropriate to apply in this jurisdiction where we have similar health and social care models as well. We are also looking further afield, to Canada and Australia, in terms of successful provisions that they have there and how they might work in Ireland. We are conscious of not only looking at our nearest neighbours but also looking further afield and gathering elements of best practice from all of those jurisdictions.