Ms Justice Mary Laffoy:

The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 was actually enacted in December 2015. It was signed by the President at that point. The issue is that it has not been commenced.

Various agencies are working on developing a system for ensuring that it is properly commenced. For instance, the decision support service has already been set up, but it is not yet operational. It looks as though it will not be operational until perhaps the middle of next year. However, I am strongly of the view that it would definitely be most important and helpful if the 2015 Act were commenced as far as possible. Perhaps some of my colleagues want to express a view on that issue.