Mr. John Farrelly:

I have heard that comment before, that there was no engagement with people with disabilities in terms of the decision support service guidelines. It is not correct. Unless there is some technical term that I am missing, even to give that impression is just not correct. We have put a lot of work into engaging with stakeholders. We have a stakeholder forum every month where we ensure that the voice of the person is heard. I am happy to send the Deputy the facts of the matter. Ms Áine Flynn has contact with hundreds of organisations and people non-stop. It may be that there are issues with Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022 but we are not accountable for bringing that through; the Department is. In terms of the Mental Health Commission's decision support service, DSS, there is not. If there is some technical thing we have missed or that we are not speaking to the right people, I would want to know. The reason we have taken on this decision support role is that we want to vindicate the rights of people with a disability and we want to vindicate people's human rights. There may be some confusion regarding what one group is informing the Deputy on what we are doing and I am happy to discuss that. Quite genuinely, we have put the engagement at the centre of it.