Ms Ber Grogan:

As it stands, the legislation provides for the director of the Decision Support Service to keep a register of the decision-making support agreements. When Ms Áine Flynn appeared before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters in May 2021 to discuss this legislation, she specifically said it would be useful and helpful to have a register of advance healthcare directives. I believe the delay is around the issue of a unique identifier. We are members of the HSE implementation steering group. From the meetings we have had, we know there is widespread support for a register for advance healthcare directives. I believe representatives of the DSS are appearing before the committee tomorrow.