Ms Joanne Condon:

Needless to say, the increase in our waiting lists is not specifically or only for those living in congregated settings because we work across multifaceted advocacy issues.

However, in line with the numbers we have looked at today concerning congregated settings, a large cohort are in congregated settings and that cohort have their rights infringed possibly more than anyone else does, not least because of their inability, in many cases, to communicate their experiences verbally. Often, they are in environments where they do not have the support to access advocacy and other services such as the ones represented at this meeting, which could change their lives and make them better. Our concern about waiting lists is, as the Deputy pointed out, that they are people, not numbers. The experiences of the people on our waiting lists are horrific and the level of distress, arising from the quickness of the decision-making being forced on people without adequate supports to understand their rights and options and to know how to navigate very complex systems, is growing all the time. Deputy Canney referred to the complexity of the systems. It is increasing all the time, yet people’s ability to access the supports they need is not. That is a significant concern.

As for who is the decision-maker about that, we are supported by the CIB and the funding comes through the Department of Social Protection.

In respect of our role under the Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Act, a large cohort of those whom the NAS supports comprises wards of court who will, inevitably, come in under the new Decision Support Service, DSS, and various tiers of support that will be available in that regard. Moreover, a growing number of people who contact us seek decision-making arrangements of different kinds. Again, they will need advocacy support to understand how that system will operate.

For those who may be under decision-making arrangements, if they are experiencing issues where, for example, the principles of the Act are not being adhered to, perhaps because their capacity is not being assumed within their situation and they are having their capacity questioned, or if they are having experiences with decision supporters that are not in keeping with the codes of practice, they may require support to make complaints to the DSS to have that investigated. It is quite significant. In the forecasting the DSS has conducted, the potential figures for those who will come in under decision support arrangements are enormous. While we cannot be exact about the specific impact it is likely to have on the demand for our service, we know it will cause further growth.